Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said she wanted to show Americans that she did not approve of the divisiveness that was on display during the Democratic debate in South Carolina.
Reporters snapped a picture of Klobuchar on Tuesday night, as she reacted to a tense exchange between Joe Biden and Tom Steyer.
Check out the photo below:
Sen. @AmyKlobuchar (D-MN) reacts as former Vice President @JoeBiden and @TomSteyer get into it during the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary debate #DemDebate2020 📷: @WinMc pic.twitter.com/HL92lONWFH
— Getty Images News (@GettyImagesNews) February 26, 2020
During an interview on CNN’s “New Day,” the next morning, Klobuchar elaborated on what was going through her head during that exchange.
“Yeah well that was about private prisons, it was a legitimate discussion,” Klobuchar said, adding, “But Steyer sort of, if you look, moved over closer and closer to my space to the point where I thought I could actually get hit on the debate stage, and then I thought ‘Well he’s kind of got deep pockets if that happens, I don’t know.'”
Watch the interview below:
JUST NOW: "I thought I could actually get hit on the debate stage!"@amyklobuchar on her personal safety as @TomSteyer
— John Berman (@JohnBerman) February 26, 2020
gestured at @JoeBiden.
"Then I thought ‘well he’s kinda got deep pockets if that happens!"
@NewDaypic.twitter.com/ZI3ACxkm4p
She continued to say that she knew what the optics of the picture would be and wanted and signal that she doesn’t “agree with all this fighting.”
“But I was literally sandwiched between the two of them yelling at each other. I knew very well what was going on and what that photo would be because my point to America was we don’t all agree with all this fighting.”
“People can make their points, but this just keeps going and going, and to me, it is one thing to make a policy point. It’s another to make it, so you get a sound bite the next day on TV just to raise money, and that feels a bit what was going on with some of my colleagues,” she added.
Commentators noted that the debate, which featured several heated exchanges, was candidates’ last big chance to make a splash ahead of Super Tuesday where one-third of the delegates will be awarded.
