Senator’s Soviet honeymoon gives ammunition to opponents
THE year was 1988 and Bernie Sanders was in the Soviet Union, bare-chested, and singing “This Land is Your Land” as those around him downed vodka.
Mr Sanders, then the socialist mayor of Burlington, Vermont, had chosen to spend his honeymoon behind the Iron Curtain to “learn from each other”, he later said.
The 10-day sojourn is facing renewed scrutiny and is set to feature heavily in attacks against Mr Sanders.
Yesterday, Robert O’brien, Donald Trump’s national security adviser, said: “Well, there are these reports that they [Russia] want Bernie Sanders to get elected president. That’s no surprise.”
At a rally in Las Vegas last week Mr Trump said: “Putin wants to make sure I get elected? Doesn’t he want to see who the Democrat is going to be? Wouldn’t he rather have Bernie, who honeymooned in Moscow?” Last week
The Washington Post reported that Russia has been clandestinely trying to boost Mr Sanders’ campaign.
Mr Sanders confirmed US intelligence officials had briefed him about the situation a month ago, and he issued a statement telling Vladimir Putin to stay out of the election.
He also suggested the news had been leaked by his opponents to damage him on the eve of Nevada voting in the Democrat presidential nomination race. With a wink he said: “Why do you think it came out? It was The Washington Post? Good friends...”
Last night, Mr Trump also accused anti-sanders Democrats of leaking the information. He said: “The Democrats are treating Bernie Sanders very unfairly ... because they don’t want Bernie Sanders to represent them.”
Mr Trump specifically accused Adam Schiff, the Democrat chairman of the House intelligence committee, of the leak. Mr Schiff denied it.
Meanwhile, Mr O’brien said he had seen no intelligence suggesting the Kremlin was trying to help re-elect Mr Trump.
Mr Sanders’ honeymoon also had an official purpose, to set up a “sister city” arrangement with Yaroslavl.
Andrei Alexeyev, a film producer from Yaroslavl, told The Daily Telegraph: “We’re following (the presidential race) closely, and we hope that Bernie will win the primaries and defeat Trump. And we’ll be proud to know the 46th US president.”