Need to make Donald Trump accountable: Bernie Sanders

WASHINGTON: Less than a week ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration as the next US President, top Democratic leader Bernie Sanders on Sunday expressed concerns over the policies and rhetoric of the incoming administration and said there is need to make the new president accountable.

“We all remember that Trump was one of the leaders of the so - called birther movement trying to delegitimise the presidency of our first African- American president Barack Obama, which is an outrage. So, I think right now, the focus has got to be on how we hold Trump accountable. What has been doing in the last week, attacking Hollywood actresses for criticising him, I mean what would is this guy living in?” Sanders, a former Democratic presidential candidate, told ABC News in an interview.

“But right now what my job is, and I think the job of Democrats and Republicans, is to protect the middle class and working families of this country from some devastat- ing ideas that Trump has proposed,” Sanders said.

Trump is all set to be inaugurated on January 20.

“I have great concerns, and apparently Republicans do as well, and there’s going to be an investigation about the role that Russian hacking played in getting him elected,” he said.

“Do I think Russians supported him? Do I think they tried to get him elected? Do I think it worked against Clinton? I do. And that is something that has to be investigated,” he said. “My job is right now going beyond media conflicts and words is to say that Donald Trump, among other things, told the American people he would not cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and right now Republicans in the House and Senate are doing just that. So, I want Trump to send out a tweet saying that he’s going to keep his campaign promises,” Sanders said.