Vermont senator Bernie Sanders called US President Donald Trump a “fraud” and accused him of falling short of commitments to middle-class voters, pointing to his cabinet and senior advisers’ ties to Wall Street, the media reported.
“This guy is a fraud,” Sanders, also a former presidential hopeful, told CNN on Sunday.
“This guy ran for President of the United States saying — I, Donald Trump, I am going to take on Wall Street, these guys are getting away with murder. Then suddenly, he appoints all these billionaires,” Sanders said.
Trump selected Steve Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs trader and hedge fund manager, as his treasury secretary nominee; Wilbur Ross, a billionaire and former banker, to lead the commerce department; and Gary Cohn, a top Goldman Sachs executive, to lead his national economic council.
Sanders said Trump’s cabinet appointments and advisers directly contradict his pledge to re-institute the Glass-Steagall Act, a regulation that separated commercial and investment banks, which was repealed under former President Bill Clinton.
Trump signed an executive order on February 3 that sets the stage for rewriting US financial regulation in an effort to encourage more lending to American businesses.
“He is a good showman, I will give you that — he is a good TV guy,” Sanders said of Trump. “But I think he is going to sell out the middle class, the working class, of this country.”
