Democratic debate: Rivals turn fire on Elizabeth Warren over healthcare

Democrat candidates rounded on Elizabeth Warren, the new putative front-runner in the race for the party's nomination, accusing her of being "dishonest" for not admitting her healthcare plan would raise taxes on the middle class.

Twelve candidates crowded on to the stage in Columbus, Ohio for the largest every primary debate in a US election.

They took turns calling for the impeachment of Donald Trump and lambasting the president over his "despicable abandonment" of America's Kurdish allies in northern Syria.

Joe Biden slammed Mr Trump as "erratic and crazy" and defended his own son Hunter, whom Mr Trump has repeatedly accused of receiving a "pay off" from a Ukrainian energy company.

Mr Biden said: “Look, my son did nothing wrong. I did nothing wrong. I carried out the policy of the United States government in rooting out corruption in Ukraine and that’s what we should be focused on. My son made a judgment. I'm proud of the judgment he made.

"What I think is important is we focus on why it’s so important to remove this man [Mr Trump] from office."

No other candidate questioned Mr Biden further about the issue.

On the eve of the debate a Quinnipiac national poll put Mrs Warren on 30 per cent, ahead of Mr Biden on 27 per cent, and the other candidates focused their fire on her rather than Mr Biden. Healthcare has emerged as the key issue for Democrat primary voters.

Mrs Warren was asked to respond "Yes or no" on whether her "Medicare for All" plan for government-run healthcare would put up taxes on the middle class. The plan is also backed by her fellow senator Bernie Sanders.

Mrs Warren said: "I have made clear what my principles are here, and that is that costs will go up for the wealthy and for big corporations and, for hard-working middle class families, costs will go down."

She then moved on quickly to talk about how many "selfies" she had taken on the campaign trail. Moderate Democrats who do not want 150 million Americans forced off their private healthcare plans, instead allowing them to choose the publicly funded option, rounded on Mrs Warren.

In his most aggressive attack yet on his rival, Mr Biden demanded that she tell the American people "how much" they would have to pay.

Mr Biden said: "She's being vague, they both [Mrs Warren and Mr Sanders] are being vague on the issue of Medicare for All.

"It costs $30 trillion. It's more than the entire federal budget. If you eliminated the Pentagon, everything, equipment, satellites, it would get you four months. Where do you get the rest, where does it come from?"

Mr Biden, more invigorated than in previous debates, added: "Who is the best prepared? We've got to level with people and tell them how we're going to get it done. I'm the only one on this stage who's really got any big thing done. Part of that is not being vague. Tell people how much it costs.

"There's 150 million people out there who negotiated their healthcare and they deserve to keep it." Mr Biden claimed Mrs Warren's plan would put up taxes on people making $75,000 by $5,000.

Mr Sanders criticised Mr Biden, saying: "I say this as a friend but you got the disastrous war in Iraq done. You got trade agreements, which have cost us four million jobs, done."

Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, accused Mrs Warren of having a "multi-trillion dollar hole" in her plan, making the country "even more polarised," and wanting to engage in "infinite partisan combat."

Senator Amy Klobuchar attacked Mrs Warren, saying: "I think we owe it to the American people to tell them where we send the invoice.

"The difference between a plan and a pipe dream is something you can actually get done. I want to give Elizabeth a reality check here."

Other candidates criticised Mrs Warren over her plan for a "wealth tax" of two per cent on individual income over $50 million

Beto O'Rourke, the former congressman from Texas, accused her of being "punitive." Businessman Andrew Yang said wealth taxes hadn't worked in numerous other countries including Germany and France.

Mrs Warren weathered the storm, saying: "I don't have a beef with billionaires. My question is why does everyone else on this stage think it is more important to protect billionaires than it is to invest in an entire generation?

"Look, I understand that this is hard, but I think as Democrats we are going to succeed when we dream big and fight hard, not when we dream small and quit before we get started."