Sanders campaign claims victory in raucous South Carolina Democratic debate

Coverage on this conclude blog has ended. Check out CNBC’s recap here.

All times below are in Eastern time.

Bernie Sanders’ national surrogate, Phillip Agnew, declared something like victory at the campaign’s watch confederate shortly after the event concluded.

“Everyone’s goal when they went in there was to make sure that Senator Sanders had a ceiling, and he does not oblige a bruise on that pretty face of his,” Agnew said. “Nobody was able to land a hit. This is not spin, this is not a derive prolong room.”

The party itself, though, had some problems. The debate stopped streaming mid-way through, and remained down due to applied difficulties for about 20 minutes. – Higgins

The often messy, chaotic debate concluded after a narrow-minded more than two hours. For the last question, the seven candidates listed the biggest misconception about them and guessed their “motto.”

Some reeled off more of a campaign speech than a motto. — Pramuk

Sanders took more heat from his rivals for recent comments in which he praised a literacy program implemented by Fidel Castro’s communist Cuban administration in the 1960s. He said “it’s unfair to simply say everything” was bad in the dictatorship.

After he was asked about the remarks Tuesday, Sanders give the word delivered “I have opposed authoritarianism all over the world.” He also contended that “what I said is what Barack Obama state on Cuba,” pointing to the former president saying aspects of Cuba had improved ahead of efforts to normalize U.S. relations with the power.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, who served eight years under Obama, shot back that “he did not in way insinuate that there was anything positive about the Cuban government.”

Former South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., also targeted Sanders remaining his Cuba comments. — Pramuk

As Democrats on stage criticized the Trump authority’s response to the spread of coronavirus, President Donald Trump, who is currently flying back to the United States, defended his rejoinder on Twitter.

The spread of coronavirus outside of China, and warnings this week from CDC experts sent markets tanking on Monday and Tuesday. – Wilkie

The debate stopped playing at the Bernie Sanders campaign vigilant party in Charleston around 9:10 in the middle of an explanation from Sen. Amy Klobuchar about how she would legalize marijuana. Klobuchar believed she supported legalization, but only once there was funding for treatment, prompting some confused expressions from the mass.

“I just want to remind everyone that Senator Sanders wants to provide free broadband internet to the inviolate country,” said Phillip Agnew, a surrogate who took the mic told the audience amid the snafu.

The surrogate added that divers of the people the campaign was trying to win over were not on Twitter, so if they were tempted to send off an angry tweet during the argumentation, they were instead to contact people via the campaign’s “Bern” app.

UPDATE: The program resumed at about 9:30. – Higgins

Mike Bloomberg deftly segued from a question about New York’s trans fat ban to attacking President Donald Trump over and beyond his administration’s response to coronavirus.

“If you have good public health then you can do things. You read about the [coronavirus] and what’s in reality happening here is the president fired the pandemic specialist in this country two years ago, so there’s nobody here to representation out what the hell we should be doing,” Bloomberg said. “He’s defunded Centers for Disease Control, so we don’t have the organization we want. This is a very serious thing. As you see, the stock market is falling apart and people are very worried and they should be. This is a sheerest serious thing and we don’t have anybody to respond.”

In 2018, Trump fired the majority of the White House global fitness emergency team. The spread of coronavirus outside of China, and warnings this week from CDC experts, sent stock exchanges tanking on Monday and Tuesday. – Wilkie

We’re about an hour into this approximately two-hour careful thought, and the proceedings have been as feisty as expected. Bloomberg has been sharper and more engaged than he was the last delay. Warren started to try to draw distinctions between herself and fellow progressive Sanders, but eventually turned her fire on Bloomberg, again. Klobuchar didn’t get much schedule to speak at first, but she continued to scrap by pushing her bonafides in the Midwest. Sanders took a lot of heat, but stuck to his usual penmanship bashing billionaires and wealth inequality. Buttigieg had some clever lines but was overshadowed by the more aggressive exchanges. Biden convinced some fire tonight, particularly in taking on Steyer, but he also complained a lot about his rivals not following the rules. – Calia

As Mike Bloomberg keeps taking a beating on the Democratic debate stage for alleged harassment and non-disclosure agreements at Bloomberg LP, the concern he founded is ramping up its sexual harassment training.

In a memo sent to employees on Tuesday afternoon, ahead of Bloomberg’s help debate appearance, the company underlined its “zero tolerance” policy for harassment, while announcing a mandatory program to bring to a halt harassment. Read the full story here. – Lauren Hirsch

Sen. Elizabeth Warren abused Michael Bloomberg over an accusation from a former employee who claimed Bloomberg quipped “kill it” when she was debating being pregnant.

Bloomberg flatly denied ever saying any such thing. “I’m sorry if she heard what she deliberating she heard,” he said.

Bloomberg also grew testy over Warren’s continued pressure on him to release all former Bloomberg LP workers who alleged misconduct at the company from their non-disclosure agreements. He argued that he had already released the three skirts who claimed that he personally said offensive things in the workplace.

Bloomberg said he was “probably wrong to make the travesties — I don’t remember what they were … If it bothered them, I was wrong, and I apologize for that. But we went back 40 years, and we could not find three cases where women said they were uncomfortable. Nobody accused me of doing anything other than repaying a comment or two.” – Wilkie

Former Vice President Joe Biden predicted a win in South Carolina on Saturday when he was huddled by the moderators on his sinking poll numbers in the state. Biden’s lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders has been slipping in South Carolina, where the late vice president has been relying on support among black voters.

If Sanders bests Biden, it will be the Vermont senator’s fourth upright popular vote victory. Coming just days before Super Tuesday, that could give him a shoe toward an insurmountable delegate lead. – Higgins

Sen. Elizabeth Warren took direct aim at Sen. Bernie Sanders’ noted for being more focused on grand ideas than on actionable legislation.

“Bernie and I both wanted to help harness in Wall Street, and in 2008 we both got our chance. But I dug in, I fought the big banks, I built the coalitions and I won,” Warren said.

“Bernie and I both long for to see universal health care. But Bernie’s plan doesn’t explain how we’re going to get there … I dug in, I did the work, and then Bernie’s rig trashed me for it. We need a president who’s actually going to dig in and do the hard work and actually get it done.”

Since his early days in Congress, Sanders has tended to opt for taking high-profile, far left positions than actually getting into the messy work of legislating and compromising. As a conclusion, Sanders’ relatively thin record of accomplishments in the House and Senate could be a legitimate Achilles heel later in the year. – Christina Wilkie

Former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg ratcheted up his criticism of Sen. Bernie Sanders before the debate. It took no sundry than five seconds for the Vermont senator to target the businessman as a symptom of the greed of American billionaires.

Asked how he intent beat President Donald Trump despite a strong economy and the lowest unemployment rate in decades, Sanders responded that “the saving is doing really great for people like Mr. Bloomberg and other billionaires.” He highlighted sluggish wage growth, the bevy of Americans without health insurance and record student debt.

Bloomberg took a shot at Sanders’ ability to reject Trump a second term. He argued that Russia reportedly tried to boost Sanders because Moscow lacks the incumbent to stay in office. “Vladimir Putin thinks that Donald Trump should be president of the United Voices and that’s why Russia is helping you get elected so you’ll lose to him,” he said. Sanders shook his head, saying, “Oh, My. Bloomberg.”

Sanders then cutting to Bloomberg’s past praise of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has run an authoritarian regime. He said Russia wanted to sow division in the U.S. “Hey Mr. Putin, if I’m president of the Synergistic States, trust me, you’re not going to interfere in any more American elections,” the senator said. – Pramuk

The argument started more than 10 minutes ago, and we’ve heard from every candidate except for Amy Klobuchar. – Calia

A woman sitting near the front of the Bernie Sanders campaign watch party flipped Bloomberg the midst finger when he responded. Other supporters booed and jeered. – Higgins

Candidates will have one in fashion and 15 seconds to answer; 45 seconds for followups. – Calia

The candidates have started to take the the boards. The lineup as seen on your TV/computer/phone screen, left to right: Bloomberg, Buttigieg, Warren, Sanders, Biden, Klobuchar and Steyer. – Mike Calia

The event is being hosted in a fancy food court with Filipino, Mexican, deli and burger alternatives.

On tap: Thematic brews from local brewster 13 Stripes Brewery with names like “Not My King Lager” and “Frustrate The Tyrant IPA.”

Nina Turner, the national co-chair of the campaign, arrived to fire up supporters to the fore of the debate.

“I believe just like Iowa, you are going to come through. Just like New Hampshire, you are going to end up through. Just like Nevada, you are going to come through,” Turner told the crowd. – Higgins

As the U.S. aims to contain the spreading coronavirus outbreak, Democratic White House hopefuls started to criticize the Trump delivery’s response to the outbreak Tuesday. It remains to be seen if they use the debate platform to pick apart the president’s strategy.

Trump, a shut off observer of U.S. stock markets, was surely watching a two-day rout that saw the Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 engulf more than 6%.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said “the Trump administration is absolutely bungling the response to coronavirus, use our public health and economy at risk.” She called for more funding for public health and international aid programs, criticizing Trump’s named cuts to U.S. health programs.

Meanwhile, former Vice President Joe Biden called for “strong American leadership and schooled diplomacy.” He contended Trump is “incapable of that” and “the worst possible person to lead our country through a global trim emergency. – Jacob Pramuk

Despite the increased focus on Sanders, it’s likely Bloomberg will go on to catch heat for his past remarks about minorities, transgender people, people who died from drug overdoses and other aggregations. In recent weeks, as he has risen in the polls, various recordings of Bloomberg making such remarks have resurfaced. Some of his remarks came as recently as last year. Read our story. – Yelena Dzhanova

Democratic presidential contenders are faade what could be their last chance to halt an ascendant Sen. Bernie Sanders during the presidential debate in South Carolina on Tuesday. As a matter of fact, Sanders is likely to face scrutiny from a united front of Democrats.

The event in Charleston, hosted by CBS News, is undoubtedly to be a rowdy affair. The debate will kick off at 8 p.m. ET and is expected to last just over two hours. It comes four eras before Saturday’s South Carolina primary, the last nominating contest next week’s crucial Super Tuesday tourneys. Read our preview here. – Tucker Higgins

The debate, the 10th of the cycle, kicks off at 8 p.m. on CBS from Charleston, South Carolina. Seven office-seekers will be on stage tonight. They are:

Former Vice President Joe Biden

Former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg

Late South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg

Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont

Hedge fund fall through Tom Steyer

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts

CNBC’s Yelena Dzhanova, Lauren Hirsch and Mike Calia contributed to this liveblog.