Sen. Bernie Sanders attacked Hillary Clinton for her political action committee’s heavy reliance on donations from the financial sector during the Democratic debate Thursday evening, arguing his opponent could not be trusted to reign in the industry that is fueling her campaign.
“Let’s not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren’t dumb,” Sanders said of her donor list. “Why in God’s name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it. They want to throw money around.”
Sanders touted the fact that his campaign has received 3.5 million individual donations, the average of which is $27.
“Secretary Clinton’s super PAC, as I understand it, received a $25 million last reporting period, $15 million from Wall Street,” he added.
Clinton denied her donors could wield any influence over her positions.
“It’s not my PAC,” she said, arguing the group in question was formed to support President Obama but had decided to support her this cycle.
The former secretary of state said Obama’s friendliness with Wall Street contributors did not stop him from signing legislation that cracked down on big banks.
“He was the recipient of the largest number of Wall Street donations of anybody running on the Democratic side ever,” Clinton said.
“Let’s not in any way imply here that either President Obama or myself would in any way not take on any vested interest, whether it’s Wall Street or drug companies or insurance companies or, frankly, the gun lobby, to stand up to do whats right for the American people,” she added.
Sanders has built his campaign around his opposition to a political system that is “rigged” by campaign finance laws and Wall Street interests. Clinton, for her part, has struggled to match his rhetoric credibly given her extensive connections to the very corporate interests Sanders vows to destroy.
