Third Democratic Debates: Major Statements

US Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and Martin O'Malley met at St. Anselma College in Manchester (New Hampshire) on Saturday, December 19, for the final, third, round of the party’s election debates.

Apologies from Sanders

At the very beginning, Sanders apologized for the illegal entry of one of his employees into the database of Clinton's campaign headquarters, which occurred on December 16, writes ru.euronews.com.

“Not only do I apologize to Hillary Clinton, but I also look forward to a joint investigation into the incident. I also want to apologize to my supporters. What happened is not typical for our campaign. Anyone involved in this will be fired,” Sanders said.

As Clinton's campaign previously said, Sanders's campaign combed through sensitive information in a 25-state database 50 times, breaching the Democratic National Committee's security system, which divides the database into accounts dedicated to each of the two candidates. On Friday evening, Sanders filed a lawsuit in federal court to force the Democratic National Committee to restore his access to the voter database, and succeeded, he writes. Voice of America.

Fight against terrorism

This debate was the first meeting of Democrats after the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, so the contenders for the presidency paid a lot of attention to the fight against the terrorist organization "Islamic State", reports The Guardian.

“I have a strategy to fight and destroy the Islamic State that frees us from having to fight on the ground,” Hillary Clinton said.

To which Sanders replied that he also has a strategy “that will eliminate the Islamic State and prevent the United States from falling into the quagmire of eternal wars in the Middle East.”

In the light of the fight against ISIS, the topic of regime change in Syria has emerged, on which the opinions of all three candidates turned out to be radically different.

"I am very concerned that Secretary of State Clinton is too concerned about the regime change in Syria, and too aggressive - not knowing all the possible consequences," said Sanders.

Martin O'Malley also does not support the idea of ​​regime change in Syria, but for a different reason.

“We are not the ones who must declare that Assad should leave. Where in the US Constitution does it say that the definition of dictators, who should leave power, is the responsibility of the United States of America or our secretary of state? ”O'Malley expressed his opinion.

But Hillary Clinton believes that in the fight against the Islamic State, the overthrow of Assad is a necessary condition.

“We have a strategy and we are committed to fighting the Islamic State, which poses a threat to us and the region as a whole, and we have finally brought the world together in the UN Security Council on the issue of political transition in Syria. If the United States is not a leader, there will be no other. There will be a vacuum, so we must be leaders if we are going to succeed,” Clinton said.

She is confident that the United States should conduct diplomatic negotiations and take part in armed operations against ISIL and Assad at the same time.

Clinton noted that delaying this issue will lead to more active speeches by Russia and Iran in support of Assad, which in turn may entail some threats to Israel.

“It is not Assad who attacks the United States. This is the Islamic State,” Sanders recalled.

He added that the fight against terrorists should be a priority for the United States, and that the States should more actively involve Russia in this process.

Tax issue

The moderator of the debate noted that one of the main questions that worries Americans is whether taxes will be raised during the leadership of the next president.

The first answered Hillary Clinton. She promised that she would not raise taxes for the middle class with a family income of less than 250 thousand dollars a year.

“No tax increases for the middle class, that's my promise,” she said.

Bernie Sanders called for curbing the “billionaire class” and raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, they write RIA News.

“Our country's middle class is disappearing, we have enormous income and wealth inequality, and we are the only country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all citizens,” Sanders said. He also called for a tax on Wall Street bank profits that would go toward supporting education.

Clinton and Star Wars

Concluding the debate, Clinton said goodbye to the audience with the phrase: “May the force be with you,” the famous phrase of the Jedi from Star Wars, which caused a storm of applause in the hall.

Top Quotes

“Forum” on the basis of collected CNN Quotes chose the most striking statements of candidates for the presidency from the Democrats.

Hillary Clinton

About Trump and his assistance to the Islamic State

Commenting on Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States, Clinton said that ISIS is using video with his performance to recruit new fighters.

“They gather people by showing them videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to educate and recruit the most radical jihadists.”

“I am very concerned that the rhetoric being used by the Republicans, especially Donald Trump, may convince Muslims here in the United States and around the world that there is a 'clash of civilizations', that there is some kind of Western conspiracy or even war against Islam. In my opinion, this only fuels the flames of radicalization.”

Bernie Sanders

That Clinton contributed to the development of the Islamic State

According to Sanders, the fact that Clinton, as Secretary of State in 2002, authorized the war in Iraq led this country to its current difficult state, which was an indirect reason for the success of the Islamic State.

“Our differences are quite deep. I am very concerned that Secretary Clinton is too concerned about regime change in Syria, and too aggressive, and she does not know all the possible consequences of such a step,” Sanders said, citing the consequences of regime change in Iraq as an example.

About medicine

“The United States is the only developed country on Earth that does not guarantee medical care for all residents.”

Martin O'Malley

On the failure of the fight against terrorism

According to the candidate, since September 11, the US has not succeeded in solving the problem of world terrorism.

“Due to a lack of investment, the Americans as a nation were not able to gather enough intelligence for these 15 years, fully analyze this information and exchange data.”

The flaws in this field, he said, are observed not only in Syria or Iraq, where American troops "participate in hostilities, not even assuming what will happen next," but also in the States themselves, where to protect residents from the terrorist threat are still no uniform tactics and strategy have been developed.

As previously wrote “Forum”, recently The Democratic Party is being lost against the background of loud statements by Republicanstherefore, the decision of the National Committee of Democrats to schedule a debate on the Saturday before Christmas probably was a strategic move.