Bernie Sanders Transfers Campaign $ to Wife's 'Think Tank'

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) moved tens of thousands of dollars from his campaign chest to his wife and stepson’s “progressive” think tank, Federal Election Commission records show.

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The $75,000 cash transfer occurred on Aug. 8 and was listed as a “charitable donation” to the Sanders Institute, a nonprofit group founded in 2017 by the senator’s wife, Jane O’Meara Sanders, and her son, David Driscoll, Fox News reported. While not necessarily unlawful, ethics experts and attorneys have long expressed dismay over politicians funneling campaign money to relatives, holding the practice could lead to powerful families enriching themselves with donor funds.

“The fact that the group is run by family is one of the things that encourages advance scrutiny,” Dan Backer, a Republican campaign finance lawyer, told the Washington Examiner.

It’s unclear what project under the think tank the $75,000 will be used for, and the Sanders Institute did not return a request for comment. The think tank was formed in the fallout of the senator’s failed 2016 presidential campaign, though it shut down briefly when he sought the White House in 2020, “so there could not even be an appearance of impropriety,” Jane Sanders said at the time.

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