birdie sanders
Bernie Sanders has a private jet problem
It apparently took a private plane ride to convince Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to campaign for Hillary Clinton.
After begrudgingly withdrawing from the presidential race in 2016, Sanders started stumping for his former rival across the country. But before he agreed to do so, Sanders demanded private flights from venue to venue, costing the Clinton campaign $100,000 in all, six Clinton campaign staffers tell Politico
Ex-Clinton staffers have been eager to call out what they see as Sanders' lackluster efforts to defeat President Trump, citing his earlier criticism of Clinton and how long he waited before dropping out of the primary. When Sanders finally did withdraw, those Clinton staffers say they expected him to fly commercial "90 percent of the time." That didn't happen, as the Clinton campaign's director of rapid response Zac Petkanas snidely describes:
“I'm not shocked that while thousands of volunteers braved the heat and cold to knock on doors until their fingers bled in a desperate effort to stop Donald Trump, his Royal Majesty King Bernie Sanders would only deign to leave his plush D.C. office or his brand new second home on the lake if he was flown around on a cushy private jet like a billionaire master of the universe."
Sanders spokesperson Arianna Jones said the private planes were used to ensure the senator "could get to as many locations as quickly as possible" and defended his "grueling" tour in support of Clinton. Sanders has also racked up another $324,000 in private jet flights in the two years since the presidential election, paid for by his Senate campaign committee, Politico also notes. Read more at Politico.