CNN Whiffs Chance to Press Sanders on Failure to Pay Staff $15/Hour
During night one of CNN’s Democratic primary debates Tuesday, Senator Bernie Sanders (VT) and former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper got into an argument about how “extreme” socialist policies were.
To tout his personal credentials, Sanders boasted after being prompted by co-moderator Jake Tapper to respond: “The American people want to have a minimum wage, which is a living wage, 15 bucks an hour. I’ve helped lead that effort.”
In reality, the Sanders campaign recently experienced a public relations nightmare over the fact that he did not pay his own campaign staff $15 an hour. And following a very public dispute with his staff and their union, Sanders announced he planned to cut hours to meet the demand, something many businesses had to do in places with the $15/hour minimum wage.
Ironically, Sanders’s boasting came immediately after he declared: “The reason we are going to defeat Trump and beat him badly is that he is a fraud and a phony, and we’re going to expose him for what he is.”
Along with fellow moderators Dana Bash and Don Lemon, Tapper failed to question Sanders about his hypocrisy and expose the Senator as a “fraud” and “phony.” There was also no follow-up question about the recent Congressional Budget Office report that found a $15/hour minimum wage could cost nearly 4 million jobs (3.7 million).
The transcript is below:
CNN Democratic Presidential Debate: Night 1
July 30, 2019
9:12:16 p.m. EasternJAKE TAPPER: Senator Sanders, you are a proud democratic socialist, how do you respond to Governor Hickenlooper?
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): Well, the truth is that every credible poll that I have seen has me beating Donald Trump, including – [Applause] – Including the battleground states of Michigan, where I won the democratic primary, Wisconsin, where I won the democratic primary, and Pennsylvania.
And the reason we are going to defeat Trump and beat him badly is that he is a fraud and a phony, and we’re going to expose him for what he is. The American people want to have a minimum wage, which is a living wage, 15 bucks an hour. I’ve helped lead that effort. The American people want to pay reasonable prices for prescription drugs, not the highest prices in the world. I helped lead that effort as well.
TAPPER: Thank you, Senator. Governor Hickenlooper, I want to bring you back to respond.
