Democratic White House race front-runner Hillary Clinton looked eager to shake off her surprising loss to Senator Bernie Sanders in the Michigan Democratic primary, as the two candidates sparred over immigration, climate change and Wall Street during Wednesday night’s Democratic presidential primary debate in Miami.
Here are a few interesting moments from the latest debate--
Boos on Benghazi questions
Even before the Univision debate moderators could finish a question about the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, the crowd showered them with boos. “Secretary Clinton, on the night of the attacks in Benghazi, you sent an e-mail to your daughter Chelsea saying that al-Qaeda was responsible for the killing of the Americans,” said moderator Jorge Ramos began, sparking catcalls from the audience. “However some of the families claim you lied to them, the mother of the information officer,” Ramos continued over the crowd noise before finally asking “Secretary Clinton, did you lie to them?” “So I testified for 11 hours,” Clinton responded. “Anybody who watched that and listened to it knows that I answered every question that I was asked and when it was over the Republicans had to admit they didn’t learn anything. Why? Because there had already been one independent investigation, there had been seven or eight congressional investigations, mostly led by Republicans who all reached the same conclusions, that there were lessons to learned.”
Sanders and the Koch brothers
At another point during the debate, Clinton moved to link Sanders to the Koch Brothers. “The leaders of the fossil fuel industry, the Koch brothers, have just paid to put up an ad praising Senator Sanders,” Clinton said. Her comment came the same day that the Koch brothers backed Freedom Partners group released a new web video praising Sanders for opposing the Export-Import Bank. But Sanders scoffed at the attack and slammed the conservative mega-donors. “There is nobody in the United States Congress who has taken on the Koch brothers, who want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and virtually every federal programme passed since the 1930s, more than Bernie Sanders,” Sanders said.
Sanders ticked off by Minutemen charge
In response to Clinton’s accusation that Sanders supported the Minutemen patrols along the Mexican border, Sanders bristled, saying the very accusation itself was a “horrific” attack line based on a distortion of the facts. “No, I do not support vigilantes, and that is a horrific statement and unfair statement to make,” Sanders said. “I will stand — my career, political career fighting for workers, fighting for the poorest people in this country. Madam secretary, I will match my record against yours any day of the week.”
‘Excuse me’ again
After Sanders stopped Clinton from interrupting him during the last debate by saying “excuse me, I’m talking,” Clinton tried to pay him back in kind on Wednesday. During an exchange over climate change, Sanders tried to talk over Clinton, saying “I have introduced…” But she curtly interjected with a well-timed “Excuse me. Excuse me,” as the crowd applauded.
