♪ >> michael bloomberg and amy klobuchar were both at a north carolina unity dinner in charlotte. here are their comments to democratic party donors. ♪ thing before i start talking -- you guys have got to

help me. we have got to get a coach for tom perez and the governor. they've got to learn how to be enthusiastic. [applause] thank you, chairman goodman, for that kind introduction and thank you for saying it exactly as i wrote it. big crowd here tonight i think is proof it is clear that north carolina democrats know how to with -- know how to put the word party in party dinner, and speaking of the democratic , dnc chair tom perez, i have gotten to know him over the past year. he's not just enthusiastic, he knows what he is talking about. if you listen to him, we could all pull together, and we've got --change his living at 1600 who is living at 1600 pennsylvania avenue, and you can help.

the rest ofon and the north carolina delegation, thank you for having me here tonight. this is the fourth city i have in today. after this, i'm going to go get some sleep. thank you all for helping to -- we are going to work together. we've got to turn north carolina blue. [cheers and applause] mr. bloomberg: i'm always glad to be in charlotte in no small part because this city is named after my mother, charlotte limburg. i'm just telling you i know it is. she lived until 102 years old. died back in 2011, but she lived well over 1/3 of the length of time america has been in business. so has charlotte and they have that in common. i spoke to her when she was at home. i was in new york. i called her every single day, and to this day, if you want to talk to my mother, she is still on the answering machine of the house i grew up in.

if you call, she probably will not respond very well, but she will certainly say hello. anyway, i think it is great to remember my mother and to tell her -- what she used to say to me, don't let it go to your head, so it's not going to my head that i have been able to come to a place like this. i did not grow up where i could speak to a big crowd, and i didn't -- in fact, if you take a look, none of my fellow candidates with the exception of amy are in carolina tonight. they have all been afraid to come and talk to you and tell you the truth about a critical issue, so tonight i'm going to come out and just say it -- mustard is not barbecue sauce. [cheers and applause] one of ourrg: campaign chairs, the mayor of columbia, south carolina, may never forgive me for saying that, but needless to say, i am happy to be in north carolina

where you really know barbecue. start a rivalry between new york and north carolina, but i do want to point out that some of your state's famous icons have new york roots -- michael jordan, born in brooklyn. the battleship north carolina -- built in brooklyn. well, ok, you've got us there. seriously, i've been in north carolina a few times since i launch my campaign a few months ago. i think that is more than any other candidate and the reason is simple -- if we are going to beat donald trump in november, we need to take him on in swing states like north carolina and we cannot wait until the primary is over to start campaigning here. [applause] mr. bloomberg: our work starts now. we have a great campaign team here.

i've built more than 20 offices in more than 100 campaign staff on the ground. everyone is working hard. early voting is in full swing and we are now only two days away from super tuesday. i know we can beat donald trump here, and this week again, we saw why this election is so important. right now, we have a leadership vacuum in the white house, and it could not have come at a worse time. the coronavirus has already arrived in america, and make no mistake -- the white house is endangering lives and hurting our economy, and the fact is president trump was briefed on the virus two months ago, but he buried his head in the sand, and at that time, a virus that originated in a port city in china has exploded into a global pandemic and thousands of people have died, and his failure to not prepare us for the ability to respond -- that is the problem we have. he's not leading. he's not reacting. he's doing whatever he is doing

much too late. he even said that he thought it was a democratic hoax. [crowd booing] mr. bloomberg: the president, we know, is not a scientist, and that is a nice way to put it. it doesn't that he does not even believe in science. last night at one of the rallies, when he called it a democratic hoax, it was a time when the president should be putting politics aside and rallying the american people behind him, and he continues to try to divide us by playing partisan politics. we all know the stock market has plunged out of fear, but also because investors have no confidence that this president is capable of managing a crisis. hey know what we know -- fires a scientist, he tried to cut funding for the centers for disease control, he failed to invest in emergency preparedness, and in situations like this, it's crucial that the

government provide clear, consistent, and honest answers, but trump has done exactly the opposite. i have done it through my philanthropy, and i did it when i was mayor of new york city. we spent a lot of time even on our company worrying about the virus, so i understand the economic damage that bad policies can cause, but right now, the market is pricing in the president's management incompetence, and we will have to pay a heavy price for that. costs are going to be serious if we do not do more. the democratic party is the answer for this. we've got to have strong, competent people in washington. who has leadne during a crisis, who believes in science, who invests in

prevention and preparation and listens to experts. we need a person who will make protecting the health of the american people to number one priority at all times, and i can promise you that is the kind of president that i will be. [cheers and applause] mr. bloomberg: but first, we have to win an election, and i need your help, so i hope all of you will help our north carolina team get out the vote here. i hope you will tell your friends and family and neighbors how important their votes are. if they ask what my campaign is about, just tell them this -- i am running to defeat donald trump. [cheers and applause] mr. bloomberg: i am running a campaign for change, for sanity, for honesty, for inclusion, for compassion, and a campaign for human decency. [cheers and applause] mr. bloomberg: and i'm running

to restore honor to our government and to build a country we can be proud of and to start getting things done and to start putting the united back in the united states of america. some of you may remember back in philadelphia in 2016, i spoke at the democratic convention, and i warned that donald trump was not fit for office. then in 2018, i worked to help hold him accountable by who earng candidates 21 seats in the house. [cheers andncy applause] that made nancy pelosi house speaker and allowed us to begin to hold from accountable through the impeachment process. [crowd booing] --[cheers and applause] mr. bloomberg: we have the record and resources to defeat

him in the swing states the democrats lost in 2016, and i know we can do it, but to get it done, we have to nominate someone at the top of the ticket who can build a growing coalition that rallies democrats and attracts independent and moderate republicans. that's the only ways we are going to win, and we've done that -- i did that in new york in three races. i won in the most populous large city in the united states, and i know i'm not a typical politician. i've never worked in washington before. i don't make pie-in-the-sky promises, and as you see in the debate, i'm not just someone who yells slogans even when they are not true. i think it's fair to say i think we need a leader who is ready to , notmmander in chief polished debater in chief. [cheers and applause] mr. bloomberg: if you want someone who talks turkey, who has a record of a compliment on the issues facing our country

and who has the resources to beat trump, that's me. if you want a debater, you've got the wrong guy here. there's no better investment i can make in the future of our country than spending to get donald trump out of 1600 pennsylvania avenue. [cheers and applause] mr. bloomberg: and if you think my campaign is expensive, just imagine what or years of donald trump will cost our country. somebody the other day said to me, you know, you are spending a lot of money, and i said yes, i am. i'm spending the money to get rid of donald trump, and the guy said, spend more, spend more. it would be a catastrophe if this race ends with a donald trump in the white house. even though donald trump and i are both from new york, we could not be more different. in fact, you might say in the trump. if you just think about it, he breaks promises. i keep them.

he divides people, i unite them. anis a climate denier, i'm engineer. i actually believe in science, imagine that. he looks out for people who inherited their wealth like him, and i started with nothing but my parents teaching me hard work and ethical behavior and i tell you, i will raise taxes on the wealthy, including me to get the revenue we need to start creating income it -- income equality and infrastructure and education in all the other things we need to strengthen our great country. -- i believe we need less talk, less partisanship, less division, less tweeting. in fact, what about my if i get to the white house, no more tweeting from the oval office ever again.

[cheers and applause] in all fairness, it's easy for me to say since i can't spell, but then again, neither can donald. i have been pretty blessed in my life, and there's nothing donald trump can do or say that can hurt you or me if we work together, but he has hurt a lot of other people, and that's why i'm running -- to stand up for every american who has lost a job or lost their insurance but cannot pay their college tuition. you have all heard the slogan mike will get it done? let me take two seconds to tell you what the it is -- it takes winning this november and sending donald trump back to mar-a-lago permanently. [cheers and applause] mr. bloomberg: and that is just the beginning because getting it done means finally providing health insurance to every american and lowering the cost for everyone else and getting it done means passing common gun safety laws to protect our children and communities.

and getting it done means making america a global leader in the fight against climate change, and getting it done means creating good jobs with higher wages, and getting it done means addressing discrimination and equality, and getting it done means finally fixing our broken immigration system and creating a path to citizenship for 11 million people living in the shadows. [applause] mr. bloomberg: and getting it done means protecting a woman's right to choose and appointing judges who will defend that right. [applause] mr. bloomberg: it won't be easy but i know we can do it because unlike other candidates, i don't just talk about doing things. i have a record of reaching across the aisle and getting them done. i will give you a couple quick examples. other candidates talk about raising teachers' salaries. i can tell you in new york, we raised teachers' salaries 43%, and we also raised salaries for the firefighters and sanitation

workers and police officers and all the people that work in the city. if you want good government, you've got to pay a good wage so people can focus on their jobs. [cheers and applause] mr. bloomberg: people talk about public schools. we can rate -- we raise graduation rates more than 40% while i was in office. we cut the number of uninsured 40%, providing care for mothers and babies and raising life expectancy in new york city by three whole years. if you want to live longer, you could move to new york, or you can just vote for me. [cheers and applause] others talk about fighting climate change. in new york, we cut new york city's carbon footprint by 13% dirty,ped replace 300 coal-fired power plants with clean energy. others talk about stopping gun violence. in new york, we did it. we help create a gun safety

group with 6 million members across this country including moms deserve action, and we are working to imprint common sense gun laws in states around this country. we already have 20 states that have those gun laws. i know how to bring people together to solve problems. that is how i have always run my business and that is how iran new york city. i was elected seven weeks after the devastating terrorist attacks on 9/11. in theht people together city and we created nearly 500,000 new jobs, 75,000 units of affordable housing. we reduce homelessness by 30%, new programs to fight poverty and opioids, and rebuilt our city stronger than ever. decades, wet two have taken on the toughest fights, and we won. we are ready to do it again.

so let me finish by telling you, i cannot do it alone, north carolina, so if you want quality health insurance for everyone, not empty promises, if you want fairerat inequality with taxes and better jobs, if you support my commitment to quality public education no matter what zip code you live in, if you share my belief and opportunity for all and not just for a few, if you are ready to protect and defend a constitution of the united states of america, and if you are ready to clean out the oval office and get things done, then i would be honored to have your support, your hope, your help, and, yes, your vote. thank you for having me. good night. [cheers and applause] ♪

senator klobuchar: thank you guys. wow. thank you. it is so great to be back with all of you, and i first wanted recognize tom perez. i know he is out there. your incredible governor, roy cooper, who i just saw out honoredomeone i was so she introduced me the other day at our valley, chief justice, thank you. what an incredible woman, and then, of course, all of you who are helping us turn north carolina blue. wanted to start out by congratulating the vice president of south carolina. now we know that all eyes are on north carolina.

as wayne mentioned, i really was proud to keynote your dinner a , and i did that for my friend kay hagan. y so much. whenever i think of her, i think of yellow and orange. she was someone of such joy. everyip was at her side step of the way. one of the things that i always remember about kay, and i think i said it when i was at your dinner last time, was one of her best lines ever, and she had many -- she would always say, you know, there are two types of senators -- those who spend all day on their hair, and then the women senators. [cheers and applause] the otherobuchar:

thing that i remember was that you promised me that you were going to restore the power of governor cooper's veto, and you did it. you did it. i remember you had a candidate in every single district. you had planned, and you elected a whole bunch of new people. all know did -- i did it just to impress north carolina. a lot of people predicted i would not make it through that speech, and then they thought i would not make it through the summer and then i would not make it to the debate, but here i am headed into super tuesday. debatethe way, that last in south carolina was one i won't forget. i don't know if you saw the photo. i don't always have viral

moments because i actually, like, try to answer the questions, and i remember there's a bunch of people out there watching who have not decided yet, who may be independent, but there i was and there was a dispute going on between the vice president and tom steyer, who had been on either side of me. at one point -- i know mayor bloomberg was here earlier -- the president earlier in the week had gone after him and claimed he was 5'4". am the onlyo know i one on the stage that has the cred that i am 5'4". when i am on stage, i stand on this little box, ok, so you can see me. tom steyer is totally moving into my space, and they are gesturing, and i cannot move back because i will fall off my box. , you knownk to myself

what? if tom steyer accidentally hits me off that box, he's got deep pockets, so i'm going to be ok. [applause] case,r klobuchar: in any our campaign has beaten the .very step of the way i believe in my soul that despite the disputes you see on that debate stage that what unites us is so much bigger than what divides us. we know here in north carolina that this election is an economic check on this president, a president who has not increased the minimum wage, a president who made a bunch of promises about bringing down the prices of pharmaceuticals that he has not delivered on, a president that promised a bunch of infrastructure that he has not delivered on. we also know it is something , to a lot oft people in this state that may be

stayed at home in 2016, maybe voted for another candidate, those are the people i want to bring with me. those are the people that look at this election and may think i want to bring decency back to the white house. they watch this president, and they remember the days when you used to watch the president even if you did not vote for that president and your kids could watch the president, and now if this president is at a rally at a kid comes into the room, the parents have to mute the volume because you have no idea what he's going to say. this election is also a patriotism check. reporter asked about russian interference in our election, he looked at that ruthless dictator and made a joke about it. think about it -- hundreds of thousands of americans have lost their lives on the battlefield standing up for democracy. that is what world war ii was about. for little girls at a church in

alabama -- i'm going to be in alabama tomorrow -- four little girls lost their lives at the height of the civil rights movement. , simply trying to be part of our democracy, and others were trying to shove them out of it. the greatest moments in the worst moments in this country's history have been about democracy, civil rights, freedom. that is what that lunch counter was about. i got to visit it in greensboro just two days ago. it is about our democracy, and this president makes a joke about it. is this -- donald trump's worst nightmare is that our fired up democrats will march to victory with independents and moderate republicans. his worst nightmare is that the people in the middle who are tired of the insults and the back-and-forth and the mean tweets have someone to vote for. if you feel stuck in the middle

of the extremes of our politics, you've got a home with me. let me tell you about what i think we need to get done as a party, no matter who you are supporting. have af all, we must constitutional amendment to overturn citizens united. [cheers and applause] senator klobuchar: that is all of that outside money that has come in. and this state knows it so well with that court case that i quote everywhere where they said that the legislature has discriminated, the republicans, with surgical precision against african-americans. we must restore the federal voting rights act and -- [cheers and applause] mr. bloomberg: -- senator klobuchar: and past my bill to register every kid in this country automatically when they turn 18. if target can find a pair of shoes with their shoe number in hawaii, we should be able to register everyone in this country. what else? getting rid of gerrymandering,

something you know too well in this state, and getting rid of voting purges. abrams, -- myy friend stacey abrams, who should be governor of georgia right now -- she put it this way about purges. she said you know, if you don't go to church or synagogue or mosque for a year or two, you don't lose your right to worship. and if you don't go to a meeting like this for a year or two, you don't lose your right under the constitution to assemble, and if you haven't voted for a few years and you show up at the voting booth and you find out your name is not on that list, you should never lose your right to vote. that is voting purges. [applause] senator klobuchar: what else can we do? we can and donald trump's shameful act of trying to kick people off their insurance for pre-existing conditions. we can do that.

we can try to take on big pharma -- big pharma and ring down the cost of prescription drugs. we can take on the nra and we we went -- when we were in charleston this past week, once again, you see that church and think about what happened in that church with the worshipers when a white walked in and gunned them down. you know what bill is sitting on mitch mcconnell's desk right now? a bill to simply give law enforcement time to look at background checks. the only way we get these gun safety bills done and so many other things i have talked about today is by winning, not just eking out a victor at 4:00 in the morning, north carolina, , we do it byl you winning big, by taking back the senate and sending mitch mcconnell packing. [cheers and applause] senator klobuchar: you know what else we've got to do? we got to make it easier for

people to pay back student loans and make it easier for people to afford college, and in a state in the tradition of governor hunt, a state that understands how important education is, i found 130 seven things that a new president can do in her first 100 days that are legal without congress, and the thing that i could do in the first 100 seconds is fire betsy devos. [cheers and applause] senator klobuchar: then there are foreign policy challenges because we have a president that repeatedly decides to side with tyrants instead of allies. he decides to side with .ictators instead of innocents what should we do? one, we should prepare our alliances around the world.

two, we should renew our leadership around the world. three, renegotiate back into international agreements like the international climate change agreement and the iranian nuclear agreement and, for, we should respond appropriately to threats around the world. that means not tweeting out at 4:00 a.m. in your bathrobe. issues of international importance, and five, we should reassert american values. boil down to 1 -- return to sanity in our foreign policy. this is our goal. we know we are not going to out divide the divider in chief, but we know that we can bring dignity back to the white house because when i talk to people and i say what i like to think about is that we need to build a blue wall of democratic votes around states like north carolina and states in the midwest and when we build that blue wall, it's going to be so

great in the next election in 2020, and we are going to make donald trump pay for it. [cheers and applause] senator klobuchar: one of the things i find when i talk to people that maybe voted for him or stayed home is that they get sick and tired of his whining. it might not be the first thing you think about, but they are. they are tired of it. he blames everyone. he blames barack obama for a problem. he blames the fed chair that he nominated. he blames the generals that he commands, and, yes, he once blamed the entire kingdom of denmark. who does that? that is what he does. he even blamed the prime minister of canada -- this is one of my favorite ones -- for cutting him out -- trump -- out of the home version, the canadian version of "home alone 2." that is a true story. i got a different background than donald trump.

he got $413 million in the course of his life from his dad. this is my family story -- my grandpa he never graduated from high school because he had to help to take care of his nine brothers and sisters. his parents died when he was very young and then one of the youngest kids was brought to an orphanage in duluth. he said he would go get her. when he had enough money, he borrowed a car and brought her back. he and my grandma raised both nine kids and had my dad and his brother. my grandpa saved money in a coffee tin in a basement to send my dad to a two-year community college. that was our family trust. i can tell you that $413 million does not fit in a coffee can in the basement. from there, my dad went to a committee college and then the university of minnesota. he became a writer and a journalist. he covered the vikings.

if you want to know something about resilience, he once wrote a book that is sadly still thevant today, called "will minnesota vikings ever win the super bowl?" my mom grew up in milwaukee. she wanted to be a teacher. she came to minnesota, taught second grade until she was 70 years old. i stand before you today, north carolinians, i stand before you today as a granddaughter of an iron or minor, as a daughter of a teacher and newspaperman, as the first woman elected to the u.s. senate by the state of and a candidate for president of the united states. [applause] sen. klobuchar: that is because we live in a country of shared dreams. no matter where you come from, who you know, or what you look like or the color of your skin, or how much money you have, or where you worship or who you

love that you can make it in united states of america. i have come back so many times and defied expectations. i have a lot of time to think about what we want in a president during those impeachment hearings, because all of that was about a president that was putting his private interests, his partisan interests in front of the interests of our country. and, we were up there so late at night, i would get bleary-eyed and we were talking about the founding father so much, i would look at my colleagues and think their hair looked like a founding father. as i sat there and thought about this president, i realized one key thing and that is despite everything else, his lack of respect for the law, the way he violates the law, the way he does not care about his democracy and bulldozers through our democracy every day, i thought about how he lacked empathy. because great leaders can put themselves in the shoes of the people that they represent. there is an old story about franklin delano roosevelt and he was so loved because he got us

through one of the worst times in our country. when he died, they put his body on a train that went from georgia to washington, d.c., and people spontaneously stood by the train tracks to show their respect. a reporter came upon a regular guy who had his hat across his chest and he was sobbing. the reporter said, sir, do you mind me asking, did you know the president? the guy says, no, i didn't know the president, but the president knew me. he knew me. [applause] sen. klobuchar: that is the sacred trust between the president of the united states and the people of this country. i can tell you this -- if you are trying to figure out how to stretch your paycheck or the paycheck of someone in your family to pay for their rent and their mortgage, i will fight for you and i know you. if you are trying to decide between helping your parents

with long-term care, like i struggle with with my dad or childcare or college for your kids, i know you and i will fight for you. if someone in your family is trying to figure out how they are going to fill their prescription for insulin or fill their refrigerator with food, i know you and i will fight for you. that is empathy. that is being able to put yourself in the shoes of the people that you represent. so, i ask for your support. i have been on a long, long journey and i love this state and i love the memory of kay hagan. i can tell you no matter what happens, when we head into that convention in milwaukee, we have a mission. in the words of my friend john mccain, the last thing he showed me the last thing i saw him before he died when he was in his ranch, he showed me the words that says there was nothing more liberating than fighting for a cause larger than yourself. that is what this election is

for america. so, remember, despite all these fights we are going to have, what unites us is bigger than what divides us. i asked for your support. thank you for all you have done. let's win back north carolina and the presidential race. thank you. [applause] >> more on the south carolina primary results from today's washington journal. watch highlights of candidate speeches and joint the discussion with your calls and social media comments. washington journal starts live at 7 a.m. eastern time. trump, vice president pence, and house officials just give a news conference at the white house to give an update on his administration's response to the coronavirus outbreak. we will show you the briefing in its entirety now, starting with the president's opening comments on afghanistan.