JUDY WOODRUFF: This week, the
Democratic primary election took
a momentous turn, as Senator

Bernie Sanders announced
he is suspending his
presidential campaign.

The senator from
Vermont joins me now.

Welcome to the "NewsHour."

Senator, you said on Wednesday,
when you made the announcement,
you were doing this in part

because of the pandemic,
and, as you said, it would be
difficult to continue under the

circumstances.

Today, you announced a proposal
to guarantee health care
during this period. Who is this

aimed at?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT):
Well, it's aimed at the tens
of millions of workers who are

losing their jobs, Judy.

And when you lose your job,
you lose your health care. So,
on top of 87 million people

who were uninsured and
underinsured before the crisis,
you got tens of millions more

who are not going to have
any health insurance.

And it's my view that, in the
midst of this terrible, terrible
crisis, when people have

so much to worry about, the
least we can do is to say to
all of those people, you know

what? You go to the doctor when
you're sick. Don't worry about
the health care bills. Medicare

will fill in all the gaps and
cover those people who are
uninsured or underinsured today.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And do you
have support for this among
Democratic colleagues?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: Yes, we do.

There's support in the House,
and I think you're going to
see growing support in the

Senate. And I think that
the cost is reasonable.
It will be about $150
billion over four months,

which, given everything
that we're dealing with,
is not a lot of money.

But to say to every American
that, don't worry about the
costs of health care, you're not

going to have to pay it
out of your own pocket,
you're not going to have
to pay for prescription

drugs, I think that will take
a huge burden off the shoulders
of so many of our people,

and that is the very least that
we should be doing right now.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator, let's
talk about this election.

What, after 15 months of
pour-your-heart-out campaigning,
and this after you spent, what,

years campaigning in 2016, you
had to make this announcement
that you didn't want to

make. This is not where
you wanted this to end up.

But, as you look back, what
went right and what went wrong?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: Well, look,
I think that what went right
is that, for all intents and

purposes, Judy, I think we have
won the ideological battle.

I think ideas that I fought for
four or five years ago which
everybody considered to be

radical and extreme are now part
of the mainstream discussion.
And, in fact, many of them are

being implemented across the
country, raising the minimum
wage to 15 bucks an hour, making

public colleges and universities
tuition-free, forgiving student
debt, guaranteeing health

care to all people as a human
right, focusing on climate
change as an existential threat,

immigration reform,
criminal justice reform.

Many of the ideas that
we brought forth which
were initially rejected
are now moving forward.

And I think that is the best
thing that we have accomplished.

Furthermore, we have won the
generational struggle. We did
very poorly -- and I don't

know why, to tell you the truth
-- with older people, but we
have done phenomenally well

with younger people. And
by that, I mean people
45, 50 or younger.

And the truth is, that is the
future of America. So, the ideas
that we have fought for are

gaining momentum among
younger people and will be the
policies that guide America in

the future.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator, I
think that -- I was just going
to say, I think the numbers

show you didn't do as well with
young people as you had in 2016.

But what I want to ask you
about is, you are supporting
-- at least you acknowledge Joe

Biden will be the nominee, and
yet you're going to compete
against him in the primaries

to come. What is
the value of that?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: No,
we're not competing against
-- we don't -- there's
no active campaigning.

There's nothing to
compete about. Joe Biden
will, everything being
equal, be the nominee.

But I think our -- my name
will be on the ballot. That's
the way it is in all of the

remaining states that hold
primaries. We would like to get
as many delegates as we can, so

that we have a stronger position
at the Democratic Convention to
help us shape the new platform

of the Democratic Party
and the other issues
that the DNC deals with.

JUDY WOODRUFF: You say you
want to shape the platform, and
yet, I think, it appears, from

the many last conventions,
it's what the nominee wants
that ultimately matters.

And, right now, Joe Biden has
moved in your direction. He's
talked about lowering the

age for Medicare eligibility
to 60. He's talked about
making free college
tuition more available.

But, at the same time, he has
not endorsed Medicare for all.
Senator Sherrod Brown, liberal

Democrat, was on the show two
nights ago, said he doesn't
think that Joe Biden is going

to do that. Is that
sufficient for you?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: Well,
look, Judy, what I said on the
very first day that I began

my campaign, I said that, if
I lose, I will be there to
support the Democratic winner,

the nominee, the person who wins
the nomination, because I think
that Donald Trump is the most

dangerous president in the
modern history of this country.

And we all have got to rally
around the winner to defeat
Trump. And that's certainly what

I will do. But I hope, in the
coming weeks and months, I
will be working and my staff

will be working with Joe Biden
and his team in making the
point that, if Joe is going

to do well against Trump and is
going to defeat Trump, then he
is going to have to reach out

effectively to a whole lot of
people where he has not had
the kind of support that he

needs.

And that's lower-income people.
That is younger people. And
he's going to have to give those

people the understanding that
he hears them and he's moving
to respond to their concerns.

And that deals with climate
change. It deals with making
public colleges and universities

tuition-free.

In my view, it deals with --
you're right. He is not going
to support Medicare for all,

but I think there is a
significant path forward
for him to make sure
that, when so many people

are losing their private
insurance, that the
federal government
will be there for them

to cover their
health care needs.

JUDY WOODRUFF: You have
said that you campaigned
enthusiastically for
Hillary Clinton four

years ago. Will you do exactly
the same for Joe Biden? Will
you be more enthusiastic?

Because, as you know, many
Democrats look back and say
they wished you had done more.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: Well,
many Democrats opposed me from
the Democratic establishment

from day one.

All I can tell you is, in 2016,
I worked as hard as I could
to see that Trump was defeated

and Clinton was elected.

(CROSSTALK)

JUDY WOODRUFF: And will
this year be different?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: Well, this
year, I will work as hard as I
can to make that sure Donald

Trump is not reelected and that
Joe Biden becomes president.

But I hope, in the interval
here, what we have got to do
is to -- is -- and I think

Joe Biden is a -- not only is
he a decent guy. He is a good
politician. And he understands

that, for him to win, to get
the votes that he needs, he's
going to have to listen to

and respond to the needs of a
whole lot of people who have
not been overly enthusiastic

about his campaign up to now.

JUDY WOODRUFF: But you
are saying you will be
enthusiastically supporting him.

A key decision that he's going
to have to make, of course,
is for vice president. He

has said he will choose a
woman. Let me ask you how your
supporters would view it if he

chose Elizabeth Warren?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: Well,
I think -- I can't speak
for all of my supporters.

All I can say is that I
think the more progressive
the vice presidential
candidate that he nominated,

the better it would be in terms
of the kind of response that
our supporters would provide

him.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, if
it were Amy Klobuchar?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: I
can't speculate on that.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Or Kamala...

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: You know,
Joe is going to have to make
that decision himself. I have

not been involved in
that discussion. We
will see what he does.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Republicans,
Senator, this week in Wisconsin,
as you know, took steps

to prevent measures that would
have made it easier for people
to vote, to either delay

the election or to make it
-- mail-in ballots possible.

That view is also held
by Republicans at the
national level. How
concerned are you right

now about November and access
to ballots, access to voting
for Americans across the

board?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: Judy, I
will tell you I don't know that
I have ever, within a political

context, seen anything
as ugly as the role
that the Republicans
in the legislature in

Wisconsin and their
Supreme Court played in
terms of this primary.

What they essentially said to
people is, you're going to have
to put your life on the line

in order to cast a ballot.

And that is just unbelievably
disgraceful. And that is not
what we can allow to happen

in future elections. So, it
is a very, very high priority
for me, and I think for many

other Democrats, as we
go forward on the new
piece of legislation
-- and I have got a lot

of ideas on that one -- but
certainly one of the highest
priorities must be to make

sure that every American in this
country is able to vote through
a paper ballot in November.

And the Republicans, I must
say, have been pretty clear.
They understand that, if there

is a large voter turnout, they
are not going to do so well.
And they're fighting us. But

I hope their respect for
our Constitution, for our
democracy will prevail.

And they will understand that
people shouldn't have to die
or get sick in order to cast a

ballot.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Very quickly...

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: I should
also tell you - - I should
also tell you that, in terms of

the new legislation, we're
working very hard, not only to
make sure all people have health

care, but that people will
continue to get their paychecks.

I think that is the easiest,
most efficient way to get us
out of this economic disaster

that we're in right now. Just
making sure that every American
continues to receive his

or her paycheck will go
a long way to allowing
Americans to have a
decent standard of living,

so long as we're in this crisis.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Final question.

And quickly, Senator, who leads
the progressive movement that
Bernie Sanders started next?

Who are the next leaders
of your movement?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: You're
asking me to speculate. I'm
not much into speculation.

But what I will say is, right
now, literally, as we speak,
I have been on the phone with

progressives all across this
country figuring out the best
way that we can keep our kind

of unprecedented grassroots
movement strong and growing.

So, we are a strong movement.
And history will determine
what happens in the future.

But, right now, we are working
hard to build that movement.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator Bernie
Sanders, joining us tonight
from Vermont, Senator, thank you

very much.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS:
Thank you, Judy.