WATCH: Bernie Sanders Slams Barack Obama’s $400K Wall Street Speech

Sen. Bernie Sanders (Getty)

Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont) isn’t a fan of former President Barack Obama taking hundreds of thousands of dollars for his first public speech since leaving office.

Sanders appeared on CBS This Morning on April 28 and was asked what he thought of Obama taking the $400,000 payment for a speaking engagement at an investment firm on Wall Street. He was critical of the decision, saying that he thought of it as “unfortunate.”

Watch a video of Sanders’ remarks below:



Earlier this week, Obama agreed to give a speech at Cantor Fitzgerald‘s healthcare conference in September. Obama’s spokesman Eric Schultz defended the former president’s decision to appear at the conference in a paid role in a statement. He said that Obama agreed to do the speech so he can speak on healthcare reform, adding that it should come as no surprise he will give sporadic speeches because they announced he would do so “months ago.”

Sanders has been one of the biggest critics of Wall Street in his political career and campaigned on it against Hillary Clinton. Asked by host Gayle King later in the CBS interview if he would accept $400,000 for a speech, he said that he would probably do so “if Wall Street offered that,” but he “hasn’t gotten too many invitations from Wall Street.”

Just two days before Sanders went on record being critical of Obama, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) did the same. She called his $400,000 speaking fee “troubling.”