Bernie Sanders: ‘No special interest that we have not taken on’

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont defended his record on Wednesday that includes opposing free trade agreements and taking on big banks, saying it will be up to voters to put his resume against that of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic presidential nominating contest.

He said he likes and respects Mrs. Clinton, the party’s frontrunner for the presidential nomination, and that he’s running for working families and the middle class, “not against Hillary Clinton.”

“But I think people have got to look at the record — I have voted against every disastrous trade agreement coming down the pike and [am] helping to lead the effort against this Trans-Pacific Partnership, which will mean the outsourcing of all good-paying jobs to low-wage countries,” Mr. Sanders said on CNN’s “New Day.” “People have got to look at Secretary Clinton’s record.”

“Later today, I’m going to continue my effort to call for a breakup of the largest financial institutions on Wall Street who in my view, if they’re too big to fail, they’re too big to exist — they have simply too much power,” he continued.

Mr. Sanders also said he’s pushing for free college tuition at public colleges and universities and has been a leader on climate change, as well as a push for legislation that would have the wealthiest people and the largest corporations pay their “fair share” of taxes.

“Those are my views, and people are going to have to judge Secretary Clinton’s views,” he said.

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“I think you have to look at my record,” he said. “There is in my lifetime, political life, no special interest that we have not taken on.”

“I think if you look, detail by detail, at my record, I think you find that there’s a very strong record [in] standing up for people who are kind of voiceless today, who have given up on the political process, who don’t have much power,” he said.