WATCH: Bernie Sanders Asks Betsy DeVos if She Would Be Education Secretary Nominee if She Hadn’t Donated Millions to GOP
‘I Have Heard the Number Was $200 Million. Does That Sound in the Ballpark?’
Senator Bernie Sanders Tuesday evening asked Betsy DeVos if she would be sitting before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee if she and her family had not donated millions to the Republican Party. DeVos is the anti-LGBT, anti-public schools multi-billionaire activist whom Donald Trump nominated to become Secretary of Education.Â
‘Would you be so kind to tell us how much your family has contributed to the Republican Party over the years?” Sen. Sanders asked DeVos.
“I wish I could give you that number,” DeVos responded. “I don’t know.”
“I have heard the number was $200 million. Does that sound in the ballpark?” Sanders pressed.
“Collectively, between my entire family?” she asked. “That’s possible,” DeVos continued, with a smile. The DeVos family controls the Amway fortune.
“My question is, and I don’t mean to be rude, do you think if you were not a multi-billionaire, if your family has not made hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions to the Republican Party, that you would be sitting here today?” he asked.
“Senator, as a matter of fact, I do think there would be that possibility,” DeVos insisted.Â
.@SenSanders to Education pick: Would you be here if your family hasn’t donated millions to the Republican Party? https://t.co/pcqU3c7Qpr pic.twitter.com/A2z7kKkGur
— The Situation Room (@CNNSitRoom) January 17, 2017
She went on to say she has worked hard for parents and students, wholly not realizing that her family’s nearly unlimited wealth affords her the ability to do whatever she wants.Â
Her privilege is overwhelming, her qualifications, far from it.

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