An organized protest Friday night that interrupted a high-dollar fundraiser hosted by George Clooney for Hillary Clinton consisted largely of Bernie Sanders supporters.
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Last week, Sanders told NBC’s “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd that more years would be released, and added, “Trust me, there is nothing that is going to surprise anybody”.
“I agree completely”, Clooney said. Tickets for a seat at the head table reportedly run $353,400.
After the San Francisco event, Clinton and the Clooneys will travel to Los Angeles, where the actor will host guests at his Studio City home for another fundraiser on Saturday night.
The amount goes to the Hillary Victory Fund, which is a unique joint account set up partially to support the Democrat’s presidential campaign, but also to support the Democratic National Committee and an array of 32 state Democratic Party funds. “It’s ridiculous that we should have this kind of money in politics”.
In response to the dinner, the Sanders campaign on Friday evening sent out an email to supporters asking them to help reach their fundraising goals by chipping in $US3.53 apiece, instead.
His comments came as Sanders has continued to criticize his Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton as incapable of reining in the financial industry because she is too beholden to donors. As noted by The Daily Caller, CNN’s Anderson Cooper previously asked Clinton if the aforementioned figure seemed exorbitant in hindsight, to which she succinctly replied, “That’s what they offered”.
Indeed, Hillary Clinton is said to have received $675,000 for just three speeches to the investment firm Goldman Sachs, dwarfing the Sanders’ annual household income by a substantial margin. “He is right. One of the great tragedies of American life today is the degree to which big money is buying elections, in which elected officials become responsive to the needs of Wall Street and wealthy campaign contributors, rather than the needs of ordinary people”. I like him. But this is the point. Big money is dominating our political system.
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Mr Sanders and his wife, Jane, paid $US27,653 ($35,804) in federal income taxes in 2014, an effective federal tax rate of 13.5 per cent, on income of $US205,271 ($265,775), which is their adjusted gross income before deductions.
