- Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in a statement that Sen. Bernie Sanders disagreed with her that a woman could become the Democratic presidential nominee.
- Warren said Sanders said the comment during a private meeting in December 2018 to discuss the upcoming 2020 election.
- President Donald Trump sided with Sanders, saying he believes the senator from didn't say that a woman couldn't win the presidency.
- "I don't believe Bernie said that, I really don't," he continued. "It's not the kind of thing he would say."
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President Donald Trump sided with 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, saying he believes the senator from Vermont didn't say that a woman couldn't win the presidency.
On Monday, following reports, Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in a statement that Sanders told her he didn't think a woman could become the Democratic presidential nominee.
Trump said he didn't believe Sanders said the comment, while holding a campaign rally in Milwaukee.
"I don't believe he said this, but I don't know him, I don't particularly like him, he's a nasty guy," Trump said during the rally. "But I don't believe he said it; it's not his deal. You have to know what people say."
"I don't believe Bernie said that, I really don't," he continued. "It's not the kind of thing he would say."
Warren said Sanders said the comment during a private meeting in December 2018 to discuss the upcoming 2020 election.
"I thought a woman could win; he disagreed," Warren said in the statement.
The New York Times cited people briefed on the meeting as saying that, in context, Sanders made the comment while arguing to Warren that he believed President Donald Trump would employ sexism against a female competitor to great effect.
However, Sanders has vehemently denied saying the comment.
When the story first broke on CNN, Sanders denied the exchange.
"It is ludicrous to believe that at the same meeting where Elizabeth Warren told me she was going to run for president, I would tell her that a woman couldn't win," he told CNN in a statement. "It's sad that, three weeks before the Iowa caucus and a year after that private conversation, staff who weren't in the room are lying about what happened.
"What I did say that night was that Donald Trump is a sexist, a racist, and a liar who would weaponize whatever he could," Sanders continued. "Do I believe a woman can win in 2020? Of course! After all, Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump by 3 million votes in 2016."
The rare show of discord between Sanders and Warren arose just one day before the candidates appear on the debate stage in Iowa alongside four other qualifiers: Sen. Amy Klobuchar, billionaire Tom Steyer, former Vice President Joe Biden, and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
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