Sanders: Bloomberg with ‘all his money’ will not create the excitement needed to beat Trump

Sen. Bernie Sanders on the campaign trail Saturday attacked former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, saying “all his money” will not be enough to produce the voter turnout needed to defeat President Donald Trump.

“The simple truth is that Mayor Bloomberg with all his money will not create the kind of excitement and energy we need to have, the voter turnout we must have to defeat Donald Trump,” Sanders said Saturday during a dinner in Clark County, Nevada.

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Sanders has previously criticized Bloomberg’s wealth, but on Saturday, the Vermont senator launched a series of critiques on Bloomberg’s policy positions — from stop and frisk policing to redlining to Bloomberg’s record on taxing the wealthy, social security and raising the minimum wage.

“Let me also say a word to you about the current campaign and to say that regardless of how much money a multi-billionaire candidate is willing to spend on his election we will not create the energy and excitement we need to defeat Donald Trump if that candidate pursued advocated for, and enacted racist policies, like stop and frisk, which caused communities of color in his city to live in fear,” Sanders said.

He continued: “We will not defeat Donald Trump with a candidate who, in 2015 stated, and I quote, ‘I for example am not in favor, have never been in favor, of raising the minimum wage.'”

“We will not defeat Donald Trump with a candidate who opposed modest proposals during Barack Obama’s presidency to raise taxes on the wealthy, while advocating for cuts for Medicare and social security.”

“We will not defeat Donald Trump with a candidate who instead of holding the crooks on Wall Street accountable, blamed the end of racist policies, such as redlining, for the financial crisis.”

The comments from Sanders, who topped the Democratic primary race in a recent national poll, come roughly a week out from the Nevada caucuses, Democrats’ third nominating contest. Bloomberg, who had so far intentionally kept the party’s contest at arm’s length, is now rising in the polls. The former mayor has spent millions on ads in Super Tuesday primary states, but has not yet appeared on the Democratic debate stage or on a primary ballot.

Responding to Sanders’ comments, Bloomberg’s national traveling press secretary, Galia Slayen, focused entirely on what Sanders said about Bloomberg opposing Obama’s efforts to raise taxes on the rich. She did not respond to the other issues Sanders raised.

“As mayor, Mike raised taxes on the wealthy and supported an increase in the minimum wage and the Earned Income Tax Credit. As president, Mike will raise rates on high-income earners, tax capital income more equitably, close loopholes, and bolster enforcement. He will get it done because he’s done it before,” Slayen said.

CNN has reached out to the Bloomberg campaign for additional comment.

Bloomberg said at the height of the housing crisis in 2008 that getting rid of “redlining,” the biased housing practice that stopped banks from providing mortgages in low-income, largely minority neighborhoods, was to blame for the collapse.

His campaign said Thursday that the comments, which were made at a Georgetown University forum in 2008, were meant to make the point that “something bad – the financial crisis – followed something good, which is the fight against redlining.”

And Bloomberg is again defending himself over the controversial stop and frisk policing policy after an audio clip of a 2015 speech came to light last week in which the former mayor argued one way to reduce violence was to throw minority kids “up against the walls and frisk them.”

Bloomberg has been repeatedly criticized over the controversial police practice of temporarily detaining, questioning and searching residents who were overwhelmingly black or Latino. Since launching his campaign, he has issued repeated apologies for the policy, most recently Saturday night during a campaign stop in Richmond, Virginia.

According to a Quinnipiac University poll released last week, Sanders is leading the Democratic primary with 25%, followed by former Vice President Joe Biden at 17%. Bloomberg is at 15%, up considerably from 9% before the Iowa caucuses and 3% when he first entered the race in November.

This story has been updated with additional developments Sunday.