Tom Steyer insists he didn't listen in on the tense Bernie-Warren post-debate moment he wandered into

Tom Steyer interrupts Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/CNN)

As the Democratic presidential candidates were glad-handing one another after Tuesday night's debate in Des Moines, Tom Steyer ambled into a very intense-looking conversation between Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who had not accepted Sanders' handshake. The Daily Show captured the moment with one emoji and a Wizard of Oz gif.

If you think that sounds unlikely, you aren't alone. "What? How can you not hear Bernie Sanders?" asked CNN's Gloria Borger. "They were talking about getting together or something. I really didn't listen," Steyer insisted. "It was one of those awkward moments where I felt like, 'You know, I need to move on here as fast as possible.'" When Borger asked if he "really didn't" listen, Steyer stuck to his guns: "The last thing I wanted to do was get in between the two of them and try and listen in. That was not my goal, and I didn't do it."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
YouTube YouTube
Watch On

CNN's Chris Cuomo still wasn't buying Steyer's story. "As a reporter, I know that he knows what they said," he said later in the night. He and his panel agreed that Warren had hit debate gold when she pivoted from the he said, she said dispute with Sanders to make her case that a woman can be elected president. Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm called it the "best moment of the night, clearly," and former Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum said that Warren "makes a very, very persuasive case" that the U.S. will elect a woman president, rebutting what's "frankly" the "biggest argument against her right now."

Explore More
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.