During a town hall on CNN on Tuesday, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) stated that he thinks it is “obscene” that fellow 2020 Democrat former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is trying to “buy the presidency.” And that he “will support the Democratic nominee.”
Sanders said, “I do think it’s a bit obscene that we have somebody who, by the way, chose not to contest in Iowa, in Nevada, in South Carolina, in New Hampshire, where all of the candidates, we did town meetings. We’re talking to thousands and thousands of people, working hard. He said, I don’t have to do that. I’m worth $60 billion. I have more wealth than the bottom 125 million Americans. I’ll buy the presidency. That offends me very much.”
He added, “I think we’re going to take a look at his record. And there are a number of things about his record that I think the American people may not know. As the mayor of New York City, he was very aggressive in pushing so-called stop and frisk. … So, his policies humiliated and offended hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people, and I think that is something that is worthy of discussion.”
Sanders later stated, “[I]f Mr. Bloomberg wins, and I certainly hope he does not, I will support the Democratic nominee.”
Sanders didn’t directly say whether he would accept money from Bloomberg in the general election, but said, “I don’t think we’re going to need that money.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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