5th Democratic Primary Debate: on Principles & Values

Amy Klobuchar: This election is a value, decency, and patriotism check

Amy Klobuchar: President focusing on personal interests risks democracy

KLOBUCHAR: I have made it very clear that this is impeachable conduct and I've called for an impeachment proceeding. I just believe our job as jurors is to look at each count and make a decision. But let me make very clear that what this impeachment proceeding about is really our democracy at stake. This is a president that not only with regard to his conduct with Ukraine, but every step of the way puts his own private interests, his own partisan interests, his own political interests in front of our country's interest, and this is wrong. This is a pattern with this man. And it goes to everything from how he has betrayed our farmers, to sucking up to Vladimir Putin every minute of the day. That is what this guy does. And I think it is very, very important that we have a president that's going to put our country first.

Bernie Sanders: Trump think he is above the law, but nobody is

SANDERS: Well, I think the people of this country are catching on to the degree that this president thinks he is above the law. And what the American people are saying: Nobody is above the law. And I think what the American people are also saying is, in fact, that if this president did break the law, he should be prosecuted like any other individual who breaks the law. But at the end of the day, what we need to do is to bring our people together not just in opposition to Trump. The initial question that somebody raised here was that we are a divided nation. You know what? I kind of reject that.

Cory Booker: Unlike Trump who demeans, will bring country together

Elizabeth Warren: Ignoring Mueller Report means president is above the law

WARREN: Of course I will.

Q: How?

WARREN: The obvious answer is to say, "First, read the Mueller report, all 442 pages of it." That showed how the president tried to obstruct justice, and when Congress failed to act at that moment, and that the president felt free to break the law again and again and again. And that's what's happened with Ukraine. We have to establish the principle: no one is above the law. We have a constitutional responsibility, and we need to meet it. But I want to add:

Joe Biden: We need to defeat Trump AND gain a Senate majority

BIDEN: Well, look, the next president is going to have to do two things. Defeat Donald Trump, that's number one. And, number two, going to have to be able to go into states like Georgia and North Carolina and other places and get a Senate majority. That's what I'll do. And by the way, I learned something about these impeachment trials. I learned, #1, that Donald Trump doesn't want me to be the nominee. That's pretty clear. Secondly, I found out that Vladimir Putin doesn't want me to be president. But the bottom line is, I think we have to ask ourselves the honest question: Who is most likely to do what needs to be done, produce a Democratic majority in the United States Senate, maintain the House, and beat Trump?

Joe Biden: Keep the Justice Department independent of politics

BIDEN: I don't think it's a good idea that we model ourselves after Trump and say "lock him up." We have to bring this country together.

Q: When Pres. Ford pardoned Pres. Nixon, he said it was to heal the country. What would you do about criminal investigation into Pres. Trump after he leaves office?

BIDEN: I wouldn't direct my Justice Department like this president does. I'd let them make their independent judgment. I would not dictate who should be prosecuted or exonerated. That's not the role of the president. It's "the attorney general of the United States," not "the president's private attorney." If the attorney general's independent judgment was that he violated the law and he should be, in fact, criminally prosecuted, then so be it. But I would not direct it. Follow the law, period.

Pete Buttigieg: Right experience, not traditional Washington experience

BUTTIGIEG: I have the right experience to take on Donald Trump. It's not traditional establishment Washington experience, but we need something different now. In order to defeat this president, we need somebody who comes from the kind of communities he's appealing to. I don't talk about helping the working class while helicoptering between golf courses. I also wore the uniform of this country. I know how to bring people together to get things done. Even on issues like immigration and guns, we have a majority to do the right thing, if we can galvanize, not polarize that majority. For example, on health care, the reason I insist on Medicare for all who want it as the strategy is that is something we can unify the American people around, creating a version of Medicare, making it available to anybody who wants it, but without the divisive step of ordering people onto it whether they want to or not.

Pete Buttigieg: Impeachment should be above politics, but Trump confessed

Under normal circumstances, a president would leave office after something that was revealed recently that barely got any attention at all, which was the president had to confess in writing, in court, to illegally diverting charitable contributions that were supposed to go to veterans. We are absolutely going to confront this president for his wrongdoing, but we're also each running to be the president who will lead this country after the Trump presidency comes to an end one way or the other.

Tom Steyer: Coalitions of ordinary American citizens beat corporations

Tulsi Gabbard: Treat people with "Aloha spirit" of respect and justice