On January 10, 2016, in the midst of Sanders’ sudden stardom-just weeks before the votes in Iowa and New Hampshire-the U.S. “I made it clear I didn’t want him to run,” she told me at their campaign headquarters at the time, “but if he decided to, I would be behind him 100 percent.” This sign-up form is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. You can unsubscribe at any time and you can contact us here. On the trail, Jane O’Meara Sanders, the senator’s personal and political partner of nearly 30 years, held his hand, warmed up crowds and waved into the bright lights of jammed gymnasiums.īy signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or updates from POLITICO and you agree to our privacy policy and terms of service. No political prognosticators-not even the candidate or his wife-expected Sanders to be in the heat of a presidential campaign at that point, packing stadiums with 20,000 adoring fans and threatening Hillary Clinton’s juggernaut. They are steeped in Vermont’s peculiar educational culture and the incestuous financial system in Burlington, Sanders’ hometown and political base, where some Sanders backers worry that with Trump’s Justice Department calling the shots, the facts-intricate as they are-may not determine the outcome.Īs the presidential primary season gained momentum in early 2016, Bernie and Jane Sanders shared a sense of surprise, wonder and a touch of shock at their unexpected political potency. attorney of Vermont that Trump has yet to appoint. Now, President Donald Trump’s Justice Department is handling an investigation that will proceed at the discretion of a U.S. Bill Jefferson, to represent Jane Sanders in the matter. Lewis “Scooter” Libby and disgraced former Rep. The couple has retained Rich Cassidy, a well-connected Burlington attorney and Sanders devotee, and Larry Robbins, the renowned Washington-based defense attorney who has represented I. Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ longtime top political adviser who heads Sanders’ political organization, Our Revolution, confirms to Politico Magazine that Bernie and Jane Sanders have lawyered up. Now, Senator Sanders and his wife are taking the case more seriously. (Toensing, in an email to Politico Magazine, notes, “The investigation was started more than a year ago under President Obama, his Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and his United States Attorney, all of whom are Democrats.”) attorney for Vermont put federal agents on the trail. The original request for an investigation into the potential bank fraud did indeed come from Brady Toensing, an attorney who chaired Trump’s Vermont campaign, and whose January 2016 letter to the U.S. Sanders and his wife have been trying to ignore the federal investigation since reporters for VTDigger, an online publication, confirmed the FBI’s involvement in April. But not the end of the investigation or the potential for damage to the senator from a small New England state who has rocketed to the top of the world of progressive politics nationwide. It would be improper at this point for me to add any more to that.”Įnd of conversation. But now that there is a process going on, which was initiated by Trump’s campaign manager, somebody who does this all of the time, has gone after a number of Democrats and progressives in this state. “Yes,” Sanders responded, “it is nonsense. “You’ve previously said it was nonsense.” Let me leave it at that, because it would be improper at this point for me to say anything more.” “Well, as you know,” he said, “it would be improp- this implication came from Donald Trump’s campaign manager in Vermont. Sanders had never responded to questions about the case, but he took the bait this time. Investigative reporters had been breaking stories about a federal investigation into allegations that the senator’s wife, Jane Sanders, had committed fraud in obtaining bank loans for the now defunct Burlington College, and that Sanders’s Senate office had weighed in. Sanders is used to fielding softball questions from an adoring local press, but his inquisitor, Kyle Midura of Burlington TV station WCAX, had a rare opportunity to put him on the spot.
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