Democratic presidential candidates square off at Iowa debates

Health care and taxes will likely be two major topics at the final Democratic presidential debate before the Iowa caucuses. Six candidates have made the cut and will take the stage. David Wessel, director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at Brookings, and James Pethokoukis, AEI's economic policy analyst, join "Squawk Box" to discuss.

The 10 leading Democratic presidential contenders took to the debate stage on Wednesday in Atlanta after a momentous day of impeachment testimony in Washington.

While attention going into the event was focused on South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who has recently surged in the first contest state of Iowa, the young Democrat emerged largely unscathed after two hours of debate, parrying critiques from Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Sen. Amy Klobuchar about his experience.

Instead, much of the ire was directed at President Donald Trump, with Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont calling him the “most corrupt president in the modern history of the United States of America.”

“If you think a woman can’t beat Donald Trump — Nancy Pelosi does it every single day,” Klobuchar said at one point.

Despite the harsh words, former Vice President Joe Biden chided Democrats who have chanted “lock him up” at Sanders rallies and sports events, and said if he is elected he would not order Trump to be criminally investigated.

The debate itself was largely cordial, punctuated by a contentious skirmish between Sen. Kamala Harris and Gabbard that echoed moments from earlier debates. And, at one point, Sen. Cory Booker expressed his shock that Biden still disagreed with legalizing marijuana because it could be a “gateway drug.”

“I thought you might have been high when you said it!” Booker said.

Here are the top moments from the fifth Democratic debate.

The fourth day of public impeachment hearings in the House ended shortly before the debate got started. The candidates used the issue to give versions of their stump speeches.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has been a vocal proponent of impeachment, said she will “of course” lobby her GOP colleagues to vote to remove the president if Trump is impeached.

But she said the testimony earlier in the day by Ambassador Gordon Sondland, a Trump donor who lacked foreign policy experience before his diplomatic appointment, pointed to a deeper issue.

“That tells us about what’s happening in Washington. The corruption. How money buys its way into Washington,” Warren said.

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