CNN hosts town halls with Biden and Warren

Sen. Elizabeth Warren opened her town hall tonight in Las Vegas addressing former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and how he would not release women who signed nondisclosure agreements.

Bloomberg, who faces allegations of sexist and misogynistic behavior, was front and center Wednesday evening at the Democratic debate. In an effort to get these women to come forward, Warren drafted up a release document she shared tonight.

"So I used to teach contract law. And I thought I would make this easy. I wrote up a release and covenant not to sue. And all that Mayor Bloomberg has to do is download it. I'll text it. Sign it. And then the women, or men, will be free to speak and tell their own stories," Warren said tonight.

Warren then read, verbatim, what the document said:

After reading the document, Warren added: "I think that the mayor should sign this and that we all have a right to see."

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren just took the stage in Las Vegas, Nevada, where she'll answer questions from voters.

Warren is campaigning on the promise she will push sweeping changes that address economic inequality and root out corruption.

Read more about Warren here.

During his closing statements tonight in Las Vegas, former Vice President Joe Biden came to the defense of middle America, the "ordinary, hardworking Americans who are getting battered across the board."

Hear his comments:

Joe Biden said Thursday that he doesn’t believe anyone in Nevada is trying to “do anything wrong” around the state’s caucuses on Saturday, but added he is concerned because it is “really a complicated system.”

The caucus process descended into chaos in Iowa two weeks ago, and the impacts are still being felt in Nevada, where Democrats in the state will caucus on Saturday.

But Nevada Democrats have added another variable to the plan: Early voting, where roughly 75,000 Democrats cast ballot as a part of the caucus process. Biden said he worried about an overarching key complication – how the party will incorporate the early vote with the day-of vote.

The key reason for that issue is that a Nevadan could vote anywhere during the four days of early vote. But their early ballot has to be correctly routed to their day-of caucus location.

Biden says he also has issues with the iPad-based "caucus calculator" that the party plans to use on caucus day.

“One of those iPads breakdown,” Biden said, “things change a lot. I am hoping you all decide to go to a primary next time.”

Asked what he planned to do to work closely with Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, former Vice President Joe Biden joked, "Mitch is not my closest friend."

Biden went on to say he thinks it's possible to work with Republicans in the future, but added that they are "definitely afraid because this President is so vindictive, so vindictive."

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Joe Biden does not think the Democratic presidential nomination should go to a candidate who wins a plurality — but not a clinching majority — of the primary delegates.

The former vice president also defended the nearly 800 unelected superdelegates who would be allowed to vote on a second convention ballot — and potentially deliver a win to a candidate who did not accrue the most delegates during the primary process.

"There is an awful lot of Democrats who show up at that convention who worked really hard to be involved in the party and giving everybody a chance," Biden said.  

Last night, during the candidates' debate here, only Bernie Sanders said he believed the candidate with the most delegates, even if that person is shy of a majority, should be handed the nomination on the spot.

The other five people onstage said, as Biden did again tonight, that the process should play itself out. According to most recent polls, Sanders is in a good position to arrive in Milwaukee this summer with a plurality, so he has reason to push back against the prospect of a brokered convention.

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On the issue of health and whether, because of his age, Joe Biden, 77, would only run for one term as commander in chief, the former vice president plainly said no.

Biden then addressed how aside from Pete Buttigieg, most of the Democratic candidates are over 70 years old.

"All the candidates up on the stage, including the woman you're leaning towards, is over 70 years of age. And I'm in pretty good health. Knock on wood, as my mother would say," Biden said in response to a question from a man in the town hall audience leaning toward voting for Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

Biden said that if anything ever happened during his first term that affected his health and thus make it unable for him to lead the country, he "would not run again," he said.

Biden added: "I'm running in large part because of my age and my experience. Every single time there is a general election for president, a slightly different set of criteria is needed for that moment. And I would respectfully suggest that the next president of the United States is going to inherit a world in disarray and a divided nation. ...  I've gotten the job done domestically. And that's what you I think is a totally legitimate to look at. And with age comes experience."

Hear former VP Biden's comments:

Joe Biden harshly criticized Michael Bloomberg for the former New York City mayor’s television advertisements and revisited attacks on Bloomberg from Wednesday night’s Democratic presidential debate. 

But, Biden said, Bloomberg opposed Obamacare, and was at odds with the Obama administration on Bloomberg’s controversial stop and frisk policing policy. 

“And the way he refers to people of color … I’m not even going to repeat the language he used about why he was doing this,” Biden said. 

He also lambasted Bloomberg for refusing — as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Biden had urged in the debate — to release women at his company who had alleged misconduct from non-disclosure agreements. 

Joe Biden said on Thursday that Bernie Sanders has not lived up to his rhetoric on guns and has not done enough about the issue.

The comments at his CNN town hall builds on comments Biden made earlier in the day, where he called out Sanders – by name – for voting against gun control measures in the 1990s, including the Brady Act, which mandated federal background checks and a waiting period for some handgun purchases.

He added: “The fact is, Bernie has had a very different record than me for a long time. For example, I am the guy, as chairman of the Judiciary Committee worked to pass very difficult legislation. The Brady Bill, which had background checks, as well as waiting period. Bernie, when he was running for the Senate of Vermont and said it was a tough state to run in, he voted against it five times in the House of Representatives.”

Biden then hit Sanders for voting to “exempt gun manufacturers from any liability. Zero. They cannot be sued.”

Sanders, after a strong showing in Iowa and first place showing in New Hampshire, is the frontrunner in the Democratic primary, a position that has opened him up to increased attacks from nearly all the candidates in the race.

Biden’s critiques of Sanders have centered on guns and led the former vice president to elevate the issue. For example, he was the only candidate on the debate stage on Wednesday to bring up gun violence.

Biden closed his answer by saying, “Gun manufacturers, I am coming for you, period.”

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