Chris Matthews Asks Warren Why She Believes Women Over Bloomberg

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews has found himself once again the subject of controversy after a post-debate interview with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Tuesday night led him to ask the presidential hopeful why she believes the women who have accused former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

During Tuesday’s Democratic primary debate in South Carolina, as well as the previous debate in Nevada, Warren hammered Bloomberg over reports that he had a number of women, primarily former employees, silenced by nondisclosure agreements, or NDAs. During Tuesday’s debate, she also mentioned a lawsuit in which Bloomberg allegedly told a pregnant employee to “kill it.”

Bloomberg denied that he ever said that, although the woman behind the lawsuit was eventually given a confidential settlement.

After the debate, Matthews asked whether Warren actually believed Bloomberg had made such a remark. Warren, seemingly shocked by the MSNBC host’s question, replied, “Really? Why not?” before pointing out that the former mayor had “who knows how many women” under NDAs. Bloomberg and his campaign have insisted that the NDAs only involved women who might have been offended by an off-color joke or remark.

Matthews pressed Warren further, asking if she thought Bloomberg had been lying. When she explained that she was inclined to believe the woman, the MSNBC host asked, “Why would he lie? Because just to protect himself?”

Clearly taken aback, Warren said that she believed this was the case, adding, “Why would she lie?”

Asked whether she was “confident” of her stance, Warren replied that she felt she was.

“Look, all I know is what she said and what he said. And I’ve been on her end of it in the sense of discrimination based on pregnancy. It happens all across this country, and men all across this country say, ‘Oh my gosh, he never would have said that.’ Really?” Warren said.

Matthews was recently forced to apologize to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., after comparing his sweeping primary victory in Nevada to the Nazis’ swift invasion of France. The MSNBC host was widely condemned for comparing a Jewish man whose family was killed during the Holocaust to Nazis, with some calling for him to resign or be fired.