Sanders, Warren appear to have tense moment onstage after debate

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) appeared to have a tense exchange onstage at the end of the Democratic presidential debate on Tuesday night.

Sanders was seen in video reaching out his hand to Warren as she approached him onstage after the debate, though the pair did not end up shaking hands.

Warren, who held her hands together during most of the interaction, appeared to be making a point when she approached her fellow progressive Democratic presidential hopeful. The conversation ended seconds later, with Sanders putting up his hands and walking away.

CNN later replayed the moment, with political commentator and Democratic strategist David Axelrod remarking, “This is not warm and cuddly.”

“This is not warm and cuddly.”

CNN’s @DavidAxelrod reacts to a seemingly chilly interaction between Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders just moments after the conclusion of the #DemDebate. https://t.co/E1MSK5ItS7 pic.twitter.com/4XQZHbHLj9

— CNN (@CNN) January 15, 2020

Right after the debate ended, Bernie Sanders extended his hand for a handshake and Elizabeth Warren straight up rejected him.

BIG YIKES pic.twitter.com/hQY3avFuSS

— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) January 15, 2020

Businessman and Democratic candidate Tom Steyer appeared to be got caught in the middle of the discussion as he waited to shake Sanders’s hand. Steyer later told MSNBC that he did not hear what the two senators were saying. 

“I don’t know what they were saying … Whatever they were going on between each other, I was trying to get out of the way as fast as possible.”@TomSteyer on the post-debate moment between Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. pic.twitter.com/MQAVlbVgKc

— Hardball (@hardball) January 15, 2020

First Warren rejected Bernie’s handshake and then they appear to go at it. Steyer didn’t know what to do. #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/hr8EWlI1L2

— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) January 15, 2020

If nothing else, Tom Steyer can become an American hero by telling us what Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren said to one another. #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/EDX5onI85P

— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) January 15, 2020

“All I was trying to say was to both Sen. Warren and Sen. Sanders, ‘It was great to see you. Thank you for participating in this,'” Steyer told MSNBC. “And whatever they were going on between each other, I was trying to get out of the way as fast as possible.”

Warren and Sanders have been embroiled in a feud since CNN reported that Sanders told Warren in 2018 that he did not think a woman could become president. 

The Vermont progressive denied that claim during the debate, saying, “Anyone who knows me knows that it is incomprehensible that I do not think a woman could be president of the United States.” 

Warren later said, “Bernie is my friend, and I’m not here to fight with Bernie.”

The pair also sparred after the Massachusetts senator said no one on the stage had defeated an incumbent Republican in the last 30 years but her. Sanders pointed out that he did in 1990, which Warren quickly retorted was 30 years ago.