Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, Sen. Mark Warner, and Sen. Marco Rubio on Biden's Pressure on Israel, Rising Risk to U.S. Middle East Interests

Biden and Trump Campaign in Georgia as Primary Votes Are Cast

Ahead of Tuesday's primary in a crucial general election battleground, President Biden and former President Trump both campaigned in Georgia Saturday night, a state that in the last presidential race went blue for the first time in nearly 30 years.

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JOE BIDEN (PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES): Guys, you really want to do it again?

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MARGARET BRENNAN: Seventy miles north of Biden's event, Trump said it was not fair to compare him to his opponent.

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DONALD TRUMP (FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (R) AND CURRENT U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE): Two very unpopular people are running for office, very unpopular. I said, why am I unpopular? I just knocked off 12 people in the quickest time that it's ever happened.

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MARGARET BRENNAN: That opponent, still riding away with positive reviews from his fiery State of the Union speech, leaned in to a tougher approach in the Israel-Hamas conflict, privately vowing a come-to-Jesus talk with Prime Minister Netanyahu.

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PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: He must, he must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken. He's hurting -- in my view, he's hurting Israel more than helping Israel. And I think it's a big mistake. So I want to see a cease-fire.

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MARGARET BRENNAN: Both presumed nominees turn the page to the general election, and President Biden steps up the pressure on Israel to tone down the violence in Gaza.

I want to bring in Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which has been briefed on these issues. Senator, good morning.

SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS (I-Vermont): Good morning.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You have long been a critic of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The other night, President Biden was heard on a hot mic after the State of the Union address saying he has to have a come-to-Jesus talk with Netanyahu about letting humanitarian aid into Gaza. Have you spoken to President Biden about whether he's had this conversation? If he hasn't, what is he waiting for? And if he already had it, has it made any difference?

SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS: Well, I have spoken to people very high up in his administration. Here's the bottom line. What we are seeing in Gaza today is literally an unprecedented crisis. It's not just that 30,000 people, two-thirds of whom are women and children, have already been killed. We are looking at the possibility of hundreds of thousands of children starving to death. The United States of America cannot be complicit in this mass slaughter of children. So it is one thing to talk to Netanyahu to pressure Netanyahu. But here is the bottom line. Year after year, we have provided billions of dollars in military aid to the government of Israel. Right now, you have a right-wing extremist government under Netanyahu. There are plans to provide him with another $10 billion in unfettered military aid. What you can't say to Netanyahu, stop the slaughter, allow the massive amounts of humanitarian aid that we need to come in to feed the children, please, please, please. Oh, but by the way, if you don't do it, here's another $10 billion to continue the war.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So you think that that should happen? You think that the United States should halt or pause or condition aid to one of our closest allies in the Middle East? SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS: Well, I think it is the right thing to do. You can't beg Netanyahu. You got to tell him, if you want any money, you got to change your policy. Allow the trucks to come in to feed their children. And, by the way, in terms of politics, which is secondary, to my mind, the truth is, whether you're a conservative Republican or a progressive, you do not want to see children in Palestine starve to death. So I think it's good politics, and it's the moral and right thing to do.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you stand by your view that a full cease-fire with Hamas is unrealistic because that terror group seeks to destroy Israel?

SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS: Look, what you have is what