Sen. Bernie Sanders brushed aside comments from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in paid speeches and from top staffers about Sanders’ campaign that were unearthed by WikiLeaks in a new dump of emails.
In a statement, Sanders argued that voters need to “look forward, not backward” despite what Clinton “may have said years ago behind closed doors.” This comes despite Sanders’ past comments during the Democratic primary when he called for Clinton to release the speeches.
“The job of the progressive movement now is to look forward, not backward,” Sanders said in the statement. “No matter what Secretary Clinton may have said years ago behind closed doors, what’s important today is that millions of people stand up and demand that the Democratic Party implement the most progressive platform in the history of our country.”
Sanders went on to lay out the platform, including breaking up the big banks, increasing taxes on wealthy Americans, raising the minimum wage and making public colleges and universities tuition free, among other items.
In the latest batch of leaked emails released by WikiLeaks, which target Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s private emails, a top Clinton staffer argued that Sanders had “really dumb plans” for dealing with Wall Street. The Clinton campaign also discussed how to take Sanders down, particularly by going after his record as a progressive, pointing to his stances on guns, taxes and same-sex marriage.
In previous releases, Wikileaks released parts of paid speeches Clinton made to various Wall Street banks, including Goldman Sachs
Since endorsing her in July, Sanders has been on the campaign trail for his former primary opponent. Most recently the Vermont senator campaigned for Clinton in Pennsylvania and Minnesota.
