Warren Hits Mayor Pete For Closed-Door Fundraisers

CNN reports:

Sen. Elizabeth Warren called on Pete Buttigieg to open up his private fundraisers to reporters and reveal the clients he worked with during his time at McKinsey, the management consulting firm, after a speech on Thursday in Boston.

Warren, who rarely goes after her rivals by name, has mostly steered clear of responding to Buttigieg’s own criticism of her policy proposals and only addressed the South Bend, Indiana, mayor directly in response to questions after a speech at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser.

The escalation of a simmering clash between the candidates could mark a new phase of the Democratic primary campaign. Buttigieg, who is leading Iowa and rising in recent national polls, has been critical of both Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders, but mostly escaped any significant pushback from either campaign.

The New York Times reports:

After her speech at a Democratic Party fund-raiser here, Ms. Warren was asked by a reporter about whether Mr. Buttigieg should release more information about his work at McKinsey & Company, the management consulting firm where he spent nearly three years before his time as mayor of South Bend, Ind. She quickly pivoted to his fund-raising.

“It is even more important that candidates expose possible conflicts of interest right now,” she said. “And that means, for example, that the mayor should be releasing who’s on his finance committee, who are the bundlers who are raising big money for him, who he’s given titles to and made promises to.”

Lis Smith is Buttigieg’s PR chief.