Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said private jet travel is the “only way you can get around, no apologies,” in response to a question about spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on chartered flights as part of his “Fight the Oligarchy” tour.
During a Fox News interview Wednesday, the self-described democratic socialist asked rhetorically, “Think I’m going to be sitting in a waiting line?”
Federal Election Commission records show Sanders’ campaign committee, Friends of Bernie Sanders, spent more than $221,000 on chartered private jets in the first quarter of 2025, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Fox News anchor Bret Baier asked Sanders about the flights. Baier noted that the senator has also “spent millions of dollars in campaign funds on private jet travel over the years.”
Sanders shot back with an attack on President Donald Trump.
“When is the last time you saw Donald Trump, during a campaign mode, at [Ronald Reagan Washington] National Airport?” Sanders asked.
Baier followed, “He’s also not fighting the oligarchy.”
The senator defended his air travel.
“You run a campaign and you do three or four or five rallies in a week,” he said. “The only way you can get around to talk to 30,000 people. Think I’m going to be sitting in a waiting line at United, waiting, you know, while 30,000 people are waiting?”
The two-time Democratic Party presidential primary candidate said this was normal for any campaign.
“That’s the only way you can get around, no apologies for that,” Sanders said. “That’s what campaign travel is about. We’ve done it in the past, we’re going to do it in the future.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has also been part of the tour.