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Bernie Sanders campaign cash scandal

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by Frank Holmes, reporter

Of all the politicians the average American would expect to be caught up in financial chicanery, socialist Bernie Sanders probably ranks near the bottom. But when it comes to corruption, he’s quickly rising to the top, according to an explosive new report.

Sanders, who staked his entire political career on skewering the rich, has funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars from his presidential campaign into six-figure salaries for his family…at what amount to do-nothing jobs, the report states.

The Sanders campaign donated $200,000 to the Sanders Institute, Bernie’s nonprofit, in two $100,000 increments in January and March of this year, according to Federal Election Commission records.

That’s big news in itself, because “according to Bernie, it doesn’t exist,” said Jesse Watters. Sanders announced in 2019 that it “was ceasing operations to avoid the appearance of impropriety.”

“It’s not clear what, exactly, the nonprofit does,” said Fox News editor Peter Hasson, “since it shows little sign of activity.”

Sanders’ wife, Jane, set up the Sanders Institute after she got the boot as president of Burlington College, which shut down shortly afterwards.

The new institute would work night and day “to revitalize democracy in the support of progressive institutions,” Jane Sanders told The Washington Post in 2017. Its work was especially important, because “people are engaged in a political process that can be opaque.”

“A vital democracy requires an informed electorate,” said Mrs. Sanders—but her husband appears to have kept his supporters in the dark about where their campaign donations would go.

Although she said she would support “progressive institutions,” not a dime of Sanders Institute money has made its way to any other organization in 2021, according to Schoffstall.

“We looked at the books, and the Sanders Institute never shut down. They’re still cutting checks,” said Watters.

… And Bernie’s family is cashing in.

The investigation is a blockbuster from Joe Schoffstall, formerly an investigative reporter with the Washington Free Beacon, of Fox News.

“The tax documents indicate that the progressive lawmaker’s stepson is the big winner of the operation,” he writes. “In 2021, the institute raised $716,618 and drove $257,000 into wages, including $152,653 in salary and other compensation to” David Driscoll, the institute’s executive director and creative director.

Driscoll prepared for his life running a progressive political think tank by working for Burton Snowboards—and that may have given him the tools to snow Sanders’ supporters.

Driscoll’s six-figure salary comes in exchange for producing videos like this one with Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., for International Women’s Day. Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, thanked “my dear friend Jane Sanders” for organizing an event “where we can come together to embrace equity.” The lighting seems off, the filter too dark, and the background is dull.

The video “objectively has the content and production value of a middle school blogger with a bedroom ‘studio,’” wrote Jim Thompson at RedState.com.

People who gave money to Bernie’s 2020 presidential campaign probably didn’t expect to fund a nonprofit…let alone to the tune they are.

In fact, Bernie Sanders’ campaign donors became the largest single donors to his institute—and to underwriting his wife’s institute…and his stepson’s exorbitant salary. The Bernie Sanders for president 2020 campaign sent $350,000 to the Sanders Institute in April 2021.

The second largest donor to Bernie Sanders’ nonprofit institute in 2021 was…the Walmart family. Last year, the institute cashed a cool $250,000 check from James M. Walton through his nonprofit, Wend II Inc. His father, James Carr Walton, is heir to the Walmart fortune.

Does that mean Bernie Sanders’ highly televised confrontation with Walmart at their June 2019 annual meeting—where he railed at them to increase their “starvation wages”—was all a show? Did the family pay Bernie to back off?

Either way, those two sources—Bernie’s donors and Walmart royalty—account for $600,000 of the entire $716,000 the Sanders Institute received in 2021…84 percent of the take.

That action won Bernie Sanders the “Socialist Hypocrite of the Year Award,” according to one popular conservative commentator.

“This is another form of corruption that is-way-too common in DC. It also amounts to stealing from donors/average Americans,” said Milwaukee talk show host Jay Weber.

Some left-wing outlets have noticed the story, as well. The “progressive” website Raw Story posted the details of the investigation, with a link to Fox News.

Chances are, this is not what donors had in mind when they gave to Bernie’s 2020 insurgent campaign, which was briefly in front of a heavily crowded primary race. After panicking the Democratic National Committee with his success, Sanders watched as the candidates lined up to endorse Joe Biden.

Since the Democratic Party turned on him, he decided to cash in for himself.

“Bernie Sanders seems to be the bagman for this family, and Driscoll is a willing beneficiary. To each according to his ability, to each according to his needs,” wrote Thompson, paraphrasing Karl Marx. “American socialism at its finest.”

Bernie Sanders, the millionaire socialist who owns multiple homes, is taking Walmart’s money to give his stepson a cake job.

Does that surprise you?

 

Frank Holmes is a veteran journalist and an outspoken conservative that talks about the news that was in his weekly article, “On The Holmes Front.”

About the Author

Stephen is a U.S. Army veteran with over a decade of combined experience in political commentary, economics, and news.