DES MOINES, Iowa â Sen. Bernie Sanders will be flying a private jet to his Wednesday campaign stop in Cedar Falls, the Washington Examiner has learned, a consequence of the Senate impeachment trial that will keep him in D.C. for most of the day, six days a week.
The Sanders campaign is not comfortable with disclosing its candidate’s new form of transportation, worried about the optics of flying private as a left-wing populist, according to people close to the campaign. Instead, the campaign has taken an official “no comment” position when receiving inquiries.
Last year, the Vermont senator faced attacks from Hillary Clinton aides over his travel accommodations during his 2016 White House bid. After he dropped out and endorsed Clinton in the general election, Sanders repeatedly requested a private jet to various campaign stops around the country.
Clinton’s aides criticized the environmentally unfriendly form of travel and the $342,000-plus cost.
âIâm not shocked that while thousands of volunteers braved the heat and cold to knock on doors until their fingers bled in a desperate effort to stop Donald Trump, his Royal Majesty King Bernie Sanders would only deign to leave his plush D.C. office or his brand new second home on the lake if he was flown around on a cushy private jet like a billionaire master of the universe,â said then-Clinton rapid response director Zac Petkanas.
