Sanders Hedges at CNN Town Hall, Won’t Rule Out Taking Bloomberg’s Money in General Election Against Trump

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders initially dodged a direct question and then after a follow-up, didn’t rule out accepting 2020 rival Mike Bloomberg’s offer of hundreds of millions of dollars in general election support, saying that “right now” he didn’t think he would need the help.

Speaking at a CNN town hall in Nevada just a few days before that state’s caucus, Sanders pledged to support any Democratic nominee against Trump, but notably didn’t answer an audience member’s question about whether he would accept the pledged campaign support from the self-funding candidate, media tycoon Bloomberg.

“If nominated, would you accept help from billionaires like Bloomberg and if not, why throw away something that can make a huge difference in winning 2020?” asked undecided voter Ana Liker.

Sanders’ answer first touted his his campaign’s huge grassroots support and small-dollar contributions. He then pivoted to say: “I think I can speak for all of the other Democratic candidates, many of whom are longtime friends of mine. Which is on day one when I announced my candidacy, I said, obviously, we were going to do everything that I could to win, but if I did not win the nomination, I would support vigorously the candidate who would won, because Donald Trump must be defeated.”

CNN’s town hall moderator, Anderson Cooper, asked Sanders in a follow up. “Would you accept — if Michael Bloomberg doesn’t get it, he gets the nomination, he says, ‘I’ve got $500 million left over that I’m going to give to you,’ would you accept that?”

“Well, what I did say is that if Mr. Bloomberg wins, and I certainly hope he does not, I will support the Democratic nominee,” Sanders repeated, not directly addressing the question. “As of right now, we have not taken — we don’t have a Super PAC, we’re not asking for a Super PAC. That is my position right now.”

“So, you’re not sure if you’d take the money?” Cooper pressed, as Sanders grimaced and looked down toward the floor. After a long pause that made it clear Sanders was done talking about the issue, Cooper smiled, nodded his head and said “Oh-kay” as he turned to the next questioner.

Watch the video above, via CNN