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#RefundWarren is one of the top trends on social media after Elizabeth Warren accused fellow Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders of a sexist remark just weeks before the Iowa caucuses and hours before the CNN/Des-Moines Register Debate.
On Monday, January 13, a report surfaced that Sanders told Warren that a woman could not be president during a private 2018 meeting.
Warren added some validity to the claim by releasing a statement from her campaign director Kristen Orthman shortly after the report began picking up steam.
“Bernie and I met for more than two hours in December 2018 to discuss the 2020 election, our past work together and our shared goals: beating Donald Trump, taking back our government from the wealthy and well-connected, and building an economy that works for everyone,” the statement read.
“Among the the topics that came up was what would happen if Democrats nominated a female candidate. I thought a woman could win; he disagreed. I have no interest in discussing this private meeting any further because Bernie and I have far more in common than our differences on punditry.”
Bernie, meanwhile, has adamantly denied the claims.
“It is ludicrous to believe that at the same meeting where Elizabeth Warren told me she was going to run for president, I would tell her that a woman couldn’t win,” Sanders said in a statement to CNN. “It’s sad that, three weeks before the Iowa caucus and a year after that private conversation, staff who weren’t in the room are lying about what happened. What I did say that night was that Donald Trump is a sexist, a racist and a liar who would weaponize whatever he could. Do I believe a woman can win in 2020? Of course! After all, Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump by 3 million votes in 2016.”
Since the alleged comments became public, Sanders and Warren supporters have been going back and forth on social media debating the he said/she said topic. Bernie supporters have been sharing older videos of the Senator saying a woman could be president while also helping #RefundWarren climb up the Twitter trends.
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out on the Tuesday night debate.
The January debate is scheduled to take place at Drake University on Tuesday, January 14. The debate — hosted by CNN and The Des Moines Register — will be the final Democratic debate before the Iowa caucus.
