Michael Moore said he felt “a knife in the heart” after Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) continued to maintain that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told her a woman could not win the presidential election. The the filmmaker continued further calling it “a malicious lie.”
Moore, who has endorsed Sanders’ candidacy, made his comments on his Apple podcast “Rumble with Michael Moore” on Wednesday by bringing up a Monday CNN story regarding his alleged comments to Warren during a 2018 private meeting, based on four anonymous sources.
“[CNN} ran with that story without any backup or agreement or denial from the Warren campaign. Or the Sanders campaign. And it was shocking. It was shocking to me, because I know both of these people,” Moore said.
“After 48 hours of this, and after watching the debate last, I felt a knife in the heart. My heart. I thought, ‘By the end of Monday afternoon, after this malicious lie was told about Bernie … the Elizabeth Warren I know, by the end of this evening, would issue a statement, “I’m sorry about this report. I don’t know who did this on my staff,” Moore later continued.
“But that’s not anything near what Bernie said, that’s not true,” the Michigan native added, speaking for Warren. “He, of course, does not believe that a woman can’t win the presidency of the United States. And [Warren] did on Monday night, and the statement was essentially confirming the lie, continuing the lie.”
CNN moderator Abby Phillip raised the issue during the debate from Iowa on Tuesday night, asking Sanders about CNN’s report of the conversation.
“Sen. Sanders, CNN reported yesterday, and Sen. Warren confirmed in a statement, that in 2018 you told her that you did not believe that a woman could win the election. Why did you say that?” Phillips asked Sanders.
“Well, as a matter of fact, I didn’t say it,” Sanders replied.
“I don’t want to waste a whole lot of time on this, because this is what Donald Trump and maybe some of the media want. Anybody knows me knows that it’s incomprehensible that I would think that a woman cannot be president of the United States,” Sanders continued. “Go to YouTube today. There’s a video of me 30 years ago talking about how a woman could become president of the United States.”
“So Sen. Sanders, I do want to be clear here,” Phillip followed up, “You’re saying that you never told Sen. Warren that a woman could not win the election?”
“That is correct,” Sanders confirmed.
Phillip then turned to Warren, who on Monday night released a statement that confirmed CNN’s account of the meeting. In the statement, Warren said she had disagreed with Sanders on the subject of whether a woman could win the presidency.
“Sen. Warren, what did you think when Sen. Sanders told you a woman could not win the election?” Phillip asked Warren.
Warren responded with some initial comments that echoed her Monday statement, but then shifted the conversation to a woman’s electability .
“I disagreed. Bernie is my friend, and I am not here to try to fight with Bernie. But, look, this question about whether or not a woman can be president has been raised, and it’s time for us to attack it head-on,” Warren replied.
