Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign spent nearly $1.2 million on private jet travel last quarter, the highest amount among the Democratic field.
Analysis of Bernie’s FEC filings published Saturday by the Washington Free Beacon shows $1,199,579 spent to Apollo Jets, LLC, a “luxury private jet charter service,” and an additional $23,941 to Virginia-based private jet service Advanced Aviation Team in the final three months of 2019.
NEW: Bernie Leads 2020 Field in Private Jet Spending with $1.2M Last Quarter https://t.co/FK7uB7T6yg
— Brent Scher (@BrentScher) February 1, 2020
Vice President Joe Biden spent the second highest amount with $1,040,698 to Advanced Aviation Team last quarter, just over a $150,000 difference compared to Bernie’s campaign. (RELATED: Climate Protesters Burn Oil By Holding Up Traffic In D.C.)
The filings of other top Democratic candidates show Elizabeth Warren’s campaign spent $720,518, Pete Buttigieg’s campaign spent $323,518, and Michael Bloomberg’s campaign spent around $646,000 on private jet travel.
WATCH:
Bernie has made climate change one of the cornerstones of his campaign, supporting legislative priorities to transition America to a green economy. He writes on his campaign website that “climate change is the single greatest threat facing our planet.”
He goes on to say that “Global climate change is real. It is caused mainly by emissions released from burning fossil fuels and it poses a catastrophic threat to the long-term longevity of our planet… The transportation sector accounts for about 26% of carbon pollution emissions.”
Bernie has supported the Green New Deal’s plan to transition America to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions within 10 years and vastly limit reliance on fossil fuels.
In spite of this, his campaign spent almost $1.2 million on private jet travel even though traveling by private jet is estimated to produce roughly eight times the amount of carbon per passenger as traveling by commercial airliner.
The Sanders campaign justified the environmental impact of its private jet use by purchasing carbon offsets. The most recent filing shows the campaign purchased $23,200 in carbon offsets from NativeEnergy last quarter.
