Biden hugs Bernie on debate stage, Klobuchar says 'I like Bernie just fine' in slap on Clinton's remarks
In a rare moment, former Vice President Joe Biden walked up to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and gave him a hug on stage after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's anti-Bernie remarks were mentioned during the debate involving the 2020 Democrat rivals.
The moment occurred nearly 45 minutes into the debate when ABC News moderator Linsey Davis referred to Clinton, who recently attacked Sanders calling him divisive, and saying: "nobody likes him". Davis directed a question at Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and quoted Clinton, saying: "Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him. He’s got nothing done."
It was at this moment when Biden left his lectern and moved left over to Sanders for a hug. The hug triggered amusement from the audience at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire. Klobuchar also smiled as she pointed at them, and said: "I like Bernie just fine. We actually worked together on a number of things,” she added, then detailed their work to lower prescription drug prices.
Sanders had begun the debate with a unifying message for the candidates, saying: "At the end of the day…everybody up here is united. No matter who wins this damn thing, we’re all going to stand together to defeat Donald Trump."
The two Democratic presidential candidates had also hugged during their October debate in Ohio.
Clinton, in January, had slammed Sanders, a 2020 Democratic frontrunner. "He was in Congress for years," Clinton had said about Sanders. "He had one senator support him. Nobody likes him. Nobody wants to work with him. He got nothing done. He was a career politician. It's all just baloney and I feel so bad that people got sucked into it." Clinton had received heavy backlash for speaking strongly against a Democratic contender.
Sanders later responded to Clinton's remarks on CBS News, saying "this is not the kind of rhetoric that we need right now."
"I am sorry for what Secretary Clinton had to say," Sanders had said. "I know she said that nobody likes me, right? I mean, this is not the kind of rhetoric that we need right now when we are trying to bring the Democratic Party together to defeat the most dangerous president in American history."