Michael Moore on Wednesday accused Sen. Elizabeth Warren of backstabbing Sen. Bernard Sanders, the documentarian’s preferred Democratic candidate in the 2020 presidential race.
The Academy Award-winning filmmaker and longtime Sanders supporter spent the latest episode of his “Rumble” podcast discussing the rift emerging between the White House hopefuls.
“I love them both,” Mr. Moore said on Twitter in a tweet linking to the episode. “Why Elizabeth chose to stick a knife in Bernie’s back is beyond me,” he added.
Sparked by a report published Monday by CNN, Mr. Moore predicted the spat between Ms. Warren, Massachusetts Democrat, and Mr. Sanders, Vermont independent, could potentially help President Trump secure a second term in office.
“I wanted it to go away,” Mr. Moore said on his podcast. “I wanted it to go away because we have only one job right now and that’s to defeat Donald Trump.”
Citing four unnamed sources, CNN reported that Mr. Sanders allegedly told Ms. Warren during a one-on-one meeting in 2018 that he did not believe a woman could win the presidency.
“I thought a woman could win; he disagreed,” Ms. Warren said in a statement issued following the release of CNN report Monday.
Mr. Sanders subsequently pushed back against CNN’s reporting during Tuesday evening’s televised Democratic primary debate and flatly denied having made the remark to Ms. Warren.
“As a matter of fact, I didn’t say it,” Mr. Sanders said on the debate stage. “Anybody knows me knows that it’s incomprehensible that I think that a woman couldn’t be president of the United States.”
Reacting to the debate the next morning, Mr. Moore stood by Mr. Sanders while at the same time slamming Ms. Warren for further fueling their budding feud.
“This isn’t a policy debate. This is a slanderous personal attack. It’s a bomb. It’s a grenade being thrown at your friend,” Mr. Moore said on his “Rumble” podcast.
“This isn’t about you winning. This isn’t about you gaining this office. This is about us. This is about removing Trump. This is about fixing this country that he has been on a wrecking tour of trying to destroy us and destroy this democracy. That’s all we care about,” Mr. Moore added.
“Trump must be loving this,” Mr. Moore continued. “I don’t know why Elizabeth did this.”
Mr. Moore, 65, initially endorsed Mr. Sanders for president in 2016 before the senator lost the Democratic nomination to former fellow White House hopeful Hillary Clinton.
He announced last year that he would support Mr. Sanders for president in 2020 and campaigned for him during a massive rally held by the senator in New York City in October.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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