Some of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's rivals don't think he should exist.Or rather, they don't think the billions of dollars he has in the bank should've ever been his. So during Wednesday night's Democratic, Meet The Press host Chuck Todd posed the very meta question to Bloomberg himself.Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) answered the "should billionaires exist" question first, affirming his previously declaration that no, they should not. Todd then asked Bloomberg "should you exist," to which Bloomberg said "I can't speak for all billionaires." But he's "been very lucky" and "worked hard" for his money, Bloomberg said and he deserves it because he's "giving it all away to make this country better. > .@chucktodd: "Mayor Bloomberg, should you exist?"@MikeBloomberg: "I can't speak for all billionaires. All I know is, I've been very lucky, made a lot of money and I'm giving it all away to make this country better." pic.twitter.com/gy18iIXVap> > -- Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) February 20, 2020More stories from theweek.com Mike Bloomberg is not the lesser of two evils Susan Rice shamed John Bolton for sitting on his impeachment testimony. Bolton said it wouldn't have mattered. The Democrats gave Mike Bloomberg what he deserved

* Ex-national security adviser criticized by Obama official * ‘I would feel like I was shamefully violating the oath I took’Former national security adviser John Bolton faced a roasting from one of his predecessors on Wednesday night, in his second public appearance since the conclusion of Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.Bolton, speaking alongside Susan Rice at a lecture series at Vanderbilt University, was taken to task by his co-speaker, who served as national security adviser under Barack Obama.Rice criticized Bolton for refusing to testify before the House of Representatives during the impeachment hearings. It later emerged that Bolton has documented, in a forthcoming book, evidence regarding Trump and Ukraine that Democrats had sought him to provide on the record.“I can’t imagine withholding my testimony with or without a subpoena,” Rice said at the Vanderbilt event, according to CNN reporter Jennifer Hansler.“I would feel like I was shamefully violating the oath that I took to defend the constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic.”Bolton refused to give testimony during the House impeachment hearings late last year. In January he said he was prepared to testify, if subpoenaed, in the Senate trial, where Republicans – as expected – voted against hearing from new witnesses.At the Vanderbilt event, Bolton said, according to the Vanderbilt Hustler student newspaper: “I said I would testify if subpoenaed. My position is exactly the same as Joe Biden.”Rice reportedly responded: “Except Joe Biden didn’t have firsthand knowledge about what transpired with Ukraine.”Vanderbilt said ahead of the event it would not be livestreamed, and no audio of the event was provided online.“When I was the sitting national security adviser in 2016, I was called to testify in front of the House select committee about Benghazi,” Rice said, according to the Hustler. “The last thing I wanted to do was take time away from my duty as national security adviser. But I did so voluntarily. I wasn’t subpoenaed.”Bolton’s appearance came after an event at Duke University on Monday, where he said he was facing “censorship” from the White House, which he claimed was trying to block publication of his book.According to the Hustler, Rice said of Bolton: “I don’t understanding using [White House] pre-clearance as a reason to not be forthcoming.”Bolton, who left the White House in September, gave a series of teasers on Monday about what his forthcoming book might contain, in one instance referring an audience member to a specific chapter of the book.“For all the focus on Ukraine and the impeachment trial and all that, to me, there are portions of the manuscript that deal with Ukraine, I view that like the sprinkles on the ice cream sundae in terms of what’s in the book,” Bolton said, according to the New York Times.Bolton is said to have written that Trump spoke to him about withholding aid to Ukraine until they agreed to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.After being criticized for remaining coy over national security matters until publishing them in a commercially published book, Bolton seemed keen to tamp down his sales pitch on Wednesday.“I didn’t come here to promote the book,” Bolton told the Hustler in an interview published before his onstage appearance.“I’m not going to talk about the book in part because it’s still in the pre-publication review process. And to avoid criticism that I’m simply out talking [about] the book, which I am not.”The New York Times has previously shared details from a draft of Bolton’s book. In it, Bolton affirmed that Trump was intent on withholding military aid to Ukraine until it helped investigate Democrats and the Bidens, supporting Democrats’ impeachment case against Trump.Bolton is also said to have written that Trump was granting favors to the leaders of Turkey and China, claims the justice department has denied.In January the White House, having received a copy of Bolton’s book, said it “appears to contain significant amounts of classified information”, and said it could not be published until certain details are removed. Bolton’s lawyers dispute that any information in the book could be considered classified.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has no time for Michael Bloomberg's excuses.During his Wednesday night Democratic debate debut, the former New York City mayor and billionaire businessman was repeatedly confronted for his dismal track record when it comes to the treatment of women. Warren kicked off that confrontation early in the night, and didn't let up when Bloomberg failed to explain the nondisclosure agreements he still maintains with women who've worked for him in the past."I hope you heard what his defense was. 'I've been nice to some women.'" Warren fired back after Bloomberg's non-answer, to a pronounced eyeroll from Bloomberg. She then called on Bloomberg to release women from their NDAS. Bloomberg wouldn't say just how many NDAs there were, and then said those women "accuse me of doing anything; maybe they didn't like the joke I told." Warren used that flippant response to dig in further.> Sen. Warren presses Bloomberg to address his history of treatment of women, and Bloomberg discusses non-disclosure agreements.> > Warren presses Bloomberg to say number of women.> > Bloomberg declines to release the women from agreements. pic.twitter.com/YoPGnQI0vJ> > — NBC News (@NBCNews) February 20, 2020Former Vice President Joe Biden backed up Warren's point, though he's been accused of some inappropriate contact with women himself.More stories from theweek.com Mike Bloomberg is not the lesser of two evils Susan Rice shamed John Bolton for sitting on his impeachment testimony. Bolton said it wouldn't have mattered. The Democrats gave Mike Bloomberg what he deserved

President Donald Trump’s announcement that he had selected a loyalist and political ally as his administration’s next intelligence chief quickly raised eyebrows Wednesday on Capitol Hill among Democrats already concerned about the state of Team Trump’s attitude toward the intelligence community.On Wednesday night, Trump tweeted that Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany with a long history in the orbit of Trumpworld, would be named as the next acting Director of National Intelligence. The term of the current acting director, Joseph Maguire, was slated to expire on March 12. The president’s appointment of another acting official to serve as the chief overseer of 17 U.S. intelligence agencies allows him to effectively bypass the Senate confirmation process—which a full-time nominee would be subjected to—in order to install his preferred person for the post. Grenell has already been confirmed by the Senate for his ambassadorship. “Rick has represented our Country exceedingly well,” tweeted Trump, “and I look forward to working with him.”One former intelligence official told The Daily Beast that career officials in ODNI were “blindsided” by the announcement. Two other senior Trump officials said the news of Grenell’s appointment moved its way through the halls of the White House over the last few days.Grenell, who has been the top U.S. diplomat in Berlin since 2018, was a longtime spokesman for the George W. Bush administration at the United Nations, a foreign policy spokesman for Mitt Romney’s presidential run, and then later a pro-Trump political commentator and operative. He is close with several senior members in the Trump administration, including National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien. Friday Night Massacre’s Just the Beginning for Acquitted TrumpGrenell does not have any direct experience in the intelligence field—a fact that triggered alarm bells for some. Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, was blunt in his reaction to the appointment: “The President has selected an individual without any intelligence experience to serve as the leader of the nation’s intelligence community in an acting capacity. This is the second acting director the President has named to the role since the resignation of Dan Coats, apparently in an effort to sidestep the Senate’s constitutional authority to advise and consent on such critical national security positions, and flouting the clear intent of Congress when it established the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in 2004,” he said in a statement. “The intelligence community deserves stability and an experienced individual to lead them in a time of massive national and global security challenges,” he said. “And at a time when the integrity and independence of the Department of Justice has been called into grave question, now more than ever our country needs a Senate-confirmed intelligence director who will provide the best intelligence and analysis, regardless of whether or not it’s expedient for the President who has appointed him.”“Having someone who is a political appointee with little or any background in intelligence come there on an acting basis is really the wrong move,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), “and I hope that the president will appoint a real professional."The move is sure to be popular among Trump’s backers both on and off Capitol Hill, who have increasingly endorsed the president’s mistrust and antipathy toward the intelligence community. It was a CIA official who sparked impeachment proceedings by filing the whistleblower complaint that first described Trump’s fateful call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky—a process that Maguire, the current acting DNI, testified before Congress about in September 2019.Grenell would be the official most staunchly loyal to Trump to hold the position atop the  intelligence community: Maguire is a career official, and his predecessor, former Sen. Dan Coats, found himself at odds with Trump on fundamental questions, like the role of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Incidentally, Grenell first got a very public vote of confidence in Trumpworld in the midst of an episode that was at the heart of impeachment proceedings against Trump: the smear campaign against then U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch that ended with her ouster last year. Donald Trump Jr., referring to Yovanovitch, tweeted in March 2019: “We need more @RichardGrenell’s and less of these jokers as ambassadors.” During his time as ambassador in Berlin, Grenell worked with European officials on the rise of the 5G network and the threats posed by China’s system. He was also an outspoken advocate for the administration’s so-called maximum pressure campaign on Iran.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg started Wednesday's Democratic debate in Nevada with a direct hit on two candidates at once.If the party doesn't "wake up" before Super Tuesday, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will likely be the only candidates left in the race, Buttigieg said. "Most Americans don't see where they fit" between those two candidates, seeing as "one wants to burn this party down" and the other "wants to buy this party out ... Let's put forward somebody who's actually a Democrat," Buttigieg said to a roaring crowd, pointing out how Sanders isn't actually a Democrat and Bloomberg just became one a little over a year ago. Sanders countered by pointing out that Buttigieg has a few dozen billionaires supporting his campaign.> WATCH: Buttigieg on Sanders and Bloomberg: "Let's put forth someone who is actually a Democrat." - @NBCNewsNOW DemDebate pic.twitter.com/rrRZEP7Pbi> > — NBC News (@NBCNews) February 20, 2020Buttigieg later piled on to questions about people who claim to be Sanders' supporters attacking a culinary union that questioned his health care proposals. Sanders disavowed anyone who is attacking union leaders and suggested disinformation campaigns like what happened in 2016 could be at play. Buttigieg fired back with a signature one-liner, saying leadership "is about how you inspire people to act."More stories from theweek.com Mike Bloomberg is not the lesser of two evils Susan Rice shamed John Bolton for sitting on his impeachment testimony. Bolton said it wouldn't have mattered. The Democrats gave Mike Bloomberg what he deserved

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) skipped the pleasantries during Wednesday night's Democratic debate in Nevada.Just three minutes into the debate, after former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has no chance of beating President Trump in November due to his Medicare-for-all policy, Warren quickly interjected and brought up allegations that Bloomberg has a long history of making sexist comments. "I'd like to talk about who we're running against -- a billionaire who calls women 'fat broads' and 'horse-faced lesbians,'" she said. "And no, I'm not talking about Donald Trump, I'm talking about Mayor Bloomberg."Warren was just warming up. "Democrats are not going to win if we have a nominee who has a history of hiding his tax returns, of harassing women, and of supporting racist policies like redlining and stop and frisk," she continued. While Warren said she will support the eventual Democratic nominee, she warned the party will take a "huge risk if we just substitute one arrogant billionaire for another. This country has worked for the rich for a long time, and left everyone else in the dirt. It is time to have a president who is on the side of working families and be willing to go out and fight for them." > WATCH: Sen. Warren kicks off the DemDebate by launching a direct criticism of Mike Bloomberg's previous comments about women. pic.twitter.com/SROJoQXU9Z> > -- MSNBC (@MSNBC) February 20, 2020More stories from theweek.com Mike Bloomberg is not the lesser of two evils Susan Rice shamed John Bolton for sitting on his impeachment testimony. Bolton said it wouldn't have mattered. The Democrats gave Mike Bloomberg what he deserved

With his approval rating again climbing to post-impeachment high, Donald Trump mocked his Democratic challengers by contending his campaign's internal polling shows him winning a second term.The president used a tweet to call his campaign's polling "REAL," contending those surveys show him "beating all of the Dem candidates".

(Bloomberg) -- Ukraine wants to move on in its relationship with the U.S. after the country was pulled into domestic politics during the impeachment process of President Donald Trump, the country’s foreign minister said.The Ukrainian government is “happy that the whole investigation, the whole impeachment part, is over,” Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said Wednesday in an interview with Bloomberg Television in New York. “We hope that nobody will poke their nose in our elections. That’s what we are trying to do here, staying away from your local affairs, with your elections, especially in the electoral year.”Ukraine was pulled into a bitter U.S. political fight after a phone call between Trump and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy set the impeachment process in motion. The president was acquitted by the Senate last month for pressuring the Ukrainian government to announce investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden to help his re-election.Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat, said in Kyiv last week after meeting Zelenskiy that it was time for Republicans and Democrats to get past the crisis and support Ukraine with security assistance. Murphy spoke during a visit along with Republican Senators Ron Johnson and John Barrasso. Witnesses in the House impeachment inquiry said Trump held up such aid for months last year to pressure Zelenskiy to announce probes into Biden and the Democrats.The Ukrainian government doesn’t believe its relationship with the U.S. needs to be “reset,” Prystaiko said. Ukraine was “dragged” into this affair but “we don’t believe that it affected our relations,” he added.Ukraine remains locked in a bitter struggle with Russia after President Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea in 2014 in a conflict that has claimed more than 13,000 lives. Talks mediated by Germany and France have yielded some progress, including prisoner exchanges, but there’s still no resolution in sight.A Ukrainian soldier died Tuesday as Russian-backed fighters sought to advance beyond territorial lines established under a five-year-old peace accord, Ukraine’s military said. The incident comes just days after the Kremlin offered grounds for encouragement by handing control of Ukraine policy to Dmitry Kozak, a senior official with a reputation for pragmatism.Ukraine has been at war with Russia for six years because “we are making the same choice as American people did -- market-driven economy and the just democratic freedoms,” Prystaiko said.Ukraine will use international pressure to persuade Iran to cooperate to provide more information on the circumstances that led to the shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger plane in January, the same night Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps fired a barrage of missiles at a U.S. base in Iraq.“We do have some instruments in our power to push them, maybe, if they are not cooperating enough,” Prystaiko said. “We believe that they don’t have the technical capacity to do it in a way that everybody in the world will believe that this is” helping the investigation.Ukraine is pressing Iran to send the so-called black box recorders from the Boeing Co. plane that was shot down after taking off from Tehran last month, Prystaiko said earlier this month. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said his country won’t let the flight recorders leave Iran and be decoded without the presence of Islamic Republic envoys.\--With assistance from Daryna Krasnolutska.To contact the reporters on this story: Glen Carey in Washington at gcarey8@bloomberg.net;Vonnie Quinn in New York at vquinn@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, Larry LiebertFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) could soon build an "insurmountable" delegate lead, Michael Bloomberg's campaign warned in a memo, per Axios. And they think other, more centrist candidates should get out of the billionaire's way so he can stop him."The fact is if the state of this race remains status quo – with [former Vice President Joe] Biden, [former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor] Pete [Buttigieg], and [Sen.] Amy [Klobuchar (D-Minn.)] in the race on Super Tuesday — Bernie is likely to open up a delegate lead that seems nearly impossible to overcome," said Kevin Sheekey, Bloomberg's top strategist. "I don't think many people understand the dire consequences here."In the memo, Sheekey and his colleague Howard Wolfson, wrote the three candidates mentioned above have "no path" to accruing delegates and would essentially block Bloomberg from ably challenging Sanders.Former President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe backed up Sheekey's claim that Sanders could be close to locking things up, saying he'll "never relinquish" his lead if projections hold true and he's still on top after Super Tuesday in March. Read more at Axios.More stories from theweek.com Mike Bloomberg is not the lesser of two evils Susan Rice shamed John Bolton for sitting on his impeachment testimony. Bolton said it wouldn't have mattered. The Democrats gave Mike Bloomberg what he deserved

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is condemning China for its decision to expel three reporters from The Wall Street Journal from the country."Mature, responsible countries understand that a free press reports facts and expresses opinions," Pompeo said in a statement on Wednesday. "The correct response is to present counter arguments, not restrict speech."This came after China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said three journalists from the Journal would have their credentials revoked over the paper's recent headline, "China Is the Real Sick Man of Asia," The New York Times reports. The reporters weren't actually involved with the article, which was an opinion piece, but Beijing called the story "racist" and "malicious." The journalists, two of whom are American and one of whom is Australian, have been ordered to leave China within five days, although the Times notes it's not clear if that's possible, as one of is currently in Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus.Journal editor Matt Murray called China's actions "harsh and unprecedented," saying the paper "will continue in the coming days to push for this action to be reversed." The Foreign Correspondents' Club also called the expulsion "an extreme and obvious attempt by the Chinese authorities to intimidate foreign news organizations." The Journal noted this is "the first time in the post-Mao era that the Chinese government has expelled multiple journalists from one international news organization at the same time."Pompeo's condemnation came after he warned African countries in a speech Wednesday to "be wary of authoritarian regimes and their empty promises" in an apparent swipe at China. The State Department also told China Tuesday that five major Chinese news outlets will be treated as foreign state operatives by the United States going forward.More stories from theweek.com Mike Bloomberg is not the lesser of two evils Susan Rice shamed John Bolton for sitting on his impeachment testimony. Bolton said it wouldn't have mattered. The Democrats gave Mike Bloomberg what he deserved