Trump campaign calls Democratic Party ‘a hot mess’ after South Carolina debate

The Trump campaign slammed the Democratic Party after a contentious primary debate in Charleston, S.C., saw fierce clashes among the seven White House contenders onstage.

“The Democrat Party is a hot mess and tonight’s debate was further evidence that not one of these candidates is serious or can stand toe-to-toe with President Trump,” Kayleigh McEnany, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, said in a statement. “It doesn’t matter who emerges from the carnage, President Trump will dominate in November.”

The comment came after the two-hour South Carolina debate was marked by several fiery exchanges, with candidates particularly going after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the current front-runner, and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. 

“Putin thinks Trump should be president of the United States, and that’s why Russia is helping you get elected, so you’ll lose to him,” Bloomberg told Sanders early on in reference to reports that surfaced this week saying that Russia is planning to meddle in the 2020 race to boost Sanders. 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) hit Bloomberg over his alleged past treatment of female employees, bringing up an alleged sexist comment Bloomberg made to a female employee in the 1990s. 

“By the end of the first year, I was visibly pregnant. The principal wished me luck and gave my job to someone else. Pregnancy discrimination? You bet. But I was 21 years old. I didn’t have a union to protect me. I didn’t have any federal law on my side,” Warren said. “At least I didn’t have a boss who said to me, ‘Kill it.'” 

Bloomberg denied the accusation, with Warren pushing back and calling on him to release female former employees from their nondisclosure agreements.

The CBS News moderators at the event came under fire on social media for their handling of the heated crosstalk.

The pile-on came at the last debate before South Carolina’s primary on Saturday and Super Tuesday in a week, leaving candidates competing to pick up momentum heading into the crucial stretch.