Bernie Lawyers Up

Don’t make too much of the news that Sen. Bernie Sanders and his wife Jill have lawyered up: It’s just what you have to do when you’re facing an FBI investigation.

That is, retaining private counsel is obligatory even if you truly have done absolutely nothing wrong. On the other hand, real questions do surround Jill Sanders’ actions as president of now-closed Burlington College.

Back in 2010, Sanders arranged a $10 million loan for the school to buy 32 acres of lakefront property. At issue is whether she falsely inflated the number of donors who’d promised to help cover the loan payments.

The FBI is also said to be looking at whether Sen. Sanders put political pressure on the bank to OK the loan. Politico reports the evidence for that so far is “thin at best,” but Sanders (like anyone in that situation) is wise to have a lawyer handling the probe for him.

Some suggest the whole thing is political, since the Vermont chairman of the Trump campaign filed a complaint in the matter. But we’ve heard from Vermonters on the left who are outraged over the affair — after all, Jill Sanders’ ill-advised leadership is what led to Burlington having to close down late last year.

And she did walk away from the school’s top job with a $200,000 golden parachute.

So far, it’s all just embarrassing for Bernie, who’s thundered at similar severance packages for private-sector leaders who bankrupted their companies.

It all may wind up as just the “nonsense” that the senator calls it. After all, as he’s also complained, lots of seemingly openand-shut cases of white-collar crime end with no one ever going to prison.