Bernie Sanders doesn’t appear to be dialing back his rhetoric anytime soon.
The Democratic presidential hopeful on Tuesday afternoon kept up his mocking of rival Hillary Clinton’s Wall Street speeches as he looks beyond Tuesday’s primary in New York.
{mosads}Sanders continued to hammer Clinton’s private speeches during a rally in Erie, Pa., decrying a “corrupt campaign finance system” that he tied to a “rigged economy” benefiting wealthier Americans.
He knocked Clinton’s reliance on super-PAC money, noting his campaign spent “1/10th of one second” considering raising money from big-dollar donors.
“To hell with their money, we don’t need it,” Sanders said to roars, touting his fundraising relying on 7 million individual campaign contributions, calling it “unprecedented.”
Sanders pointed to Clinton’s high-dollar speaking fees, including receiving upwards of $225,000 for speeches to banks, saying one lasted just 20 minutes.
“That’s not bad for a day’s work,” Sanders said, sarcastically speculating that the speeches were “so extraordinary, so enlightening, so globally transforming, written in Shakespearian prose.”
“I cannot think of any other reason why somebody would get paid $225,000,” he continued, adding that if her speeches were “so extraordinary,” Clinton should release transcripts of them.
“I would love to give that speech, I don’t need $225,000, I don’t need $2, I don’t need 2 cents.”
Clinton is seeking to blunt Sanders’ momentum and solidify her status as the presumptive nominee with a win in New York.
Sanders, trailing Clinton in Empire State polls, took a final shot at its closed primary system earlier on Tuesday by commiserating with an independent voter in the state.
Sanders has generally seen greater support in states where undeclared and independent voters can vote in the Democratic primary.
Sanders predicted Tuesday that he’d have a “huge” win in Pennsylvania — one of a handful of states holding voting next Tuesday that is also a closed primary state — if turnout is high.