According to a new report, Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders earned less in 2014 than his opponent Hillary Clinton did in just one of her over 45 speeches that year.
The Washington Post says the Vermont senator reported income of just over $200,000 on his 2014 returns.
“The vast majority of the couple’s income came from Sanders’s $174,000 Senate salary and Social Security benefits that both he and his wife, Jane, a former college president, receive,” the Post said.
According to CNN, the Clintons “gave 729 speeches from February 2001 until May, receiving an average payday of $210,795 for each address. The two also reported at least $7.7 million for at least 39 speeches to big banks, including Goldman Sachs and UBS, with Hillary Clinton, the Democratic 2016 front-runner, collecting at least $1.8 million for at least eight speeches to big banks.”
“[The] former Secretary of State gave speeches worth $225,000 to GE, $325,000 for the National Automobile Dealers Association and $280,000 for Deutsche Bank AG,” The Hill reported.
The report comes as Sanders kept up his attack on Clinton over her Wall Street ties, wondering how can she crack down on her own business interests. His campaign launched an ad further slamming Clinton on Wall Street.
“Wall Street banks shower Washington politicians with campaign contributions and speaking fees,” said the narrator of the ad.” And what do they get for it? A rigged economy. Tax breaks and bailouts. All held in place by a corrupt campaign finance system.”
Clinton has repeatedly said that she would only release the transcripts of her expensive speeches if only everybody in politics released theirs.
Sander’s campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, has said that the couple will release their 2015 returns when they are finished.
Featured image: Michael Vadon (Flickr)
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