Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Wednesday he has a “a real problem” with Hillary Clinton’s extravagant speaking fees she took from colleges and universities.
Appearing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Sanders said, “I think this whole thing of money and money in politics is something the American people are deeply concerned about.” (VIDEO: Sanders Says The Clinton Campaign Is ‘Nervous’)
Host Joe Scarborough began by telling Sanders, “Senator, we’ve had an ongoing conversation this morning with Howard Dean. Somebody brought up the fact that a lot of college students might have resented the fact that Hillary Clinton got paid so much money for giving paid speeches at colleges when they’re fighting to pay back their loans. I want to ask you specifically, she made close to $1 million or perhaps over $1 million from speaking fees at colleges. Do you think it’s wrong for her to go to places like UConn and also the University of Buffalo, a college she once represented, and get paid $275,000 for a 45-minute speech?”
“Joe, I’ve got a real problem with people, you know, receiving, you know — for an hour’s work to earn 200,000 plus dollars. I’ve got a real problem with that. But it’s not just speaker’s fees. I think what we’re hearing from young people is a real disgust with the campaign finance system in which billionaires and Wall Street are putting in huge sums of money,” Sanders argued.
“You may have read recently: Secretary Clinton’s super PAC raised $25 million. $15 million of that came from Wall Street. And what we’re trying to do is do it in a very different way. Get small individual contributions averaging 27 bucks apiece. So I think this whole thing of money and money in politics is something the American people are deeply concerned about,” Sanders said.
According to The Washington Post, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Chelsea Clinton received between $2.8 million and $6.7 million (there is a range due to the way the fees are reported) for speaking at colleges and universities.
Some of the speaking fees that Clinton demanded include over $100,000 for a speech at Simmons College, over $250,001 for a speech at Hamilton College, and $300,000 for a speech given at the University of California, Los Angeles. The UCLA speech was funded through private funds however.