Sanders knocks Clinton on Wall Street ties

CARROLL, Ia. — Railing against the "greed and recklessness" of big banks, Sen. Bernie Sanders didn't miss the opportunity to take a swipe at Hillary Clinton, who he has said is too close to Wall Street.

Sanders, who blames big banks like Goldman Sachs for causing the Great Recession, on Tuesday decried the so-called "revolving door" in which people hop between government positions and jobs on Wall Street or within other powerful firms. And he repeatedly pointed to a recent $5 billion settlement Goldman Sachs reached with prosecutors in response to claims that the company sold faulty mortgage securities.

"And how many of them have been prosecuted? How many of them will have a criminal record?" he said. "The answer is zero. Now you tell me how you pay a $5 billion fine for illegal activity and yet none of these people are prosecuted. That is a corrupt criminal justice system. It’s a corrupt campaign finance system. It is a corrupt and rigged economic system. That is what we are trying to change in this election."

Sanders quickly turned the rant into a critique of his chief rival, Clinton, who earned $600,000 from Goldman Sachs in one year for public speaking engagements.

"And by the way, without naming any names, Goldman Sachs also provides very, very generous speaking fees to some unnamed candidates. Very generous," he said. "Now I know that some of my opponents are very good speakers, very fine orators, smart people. But you gotta be really, really, really good to get $225,000 a speech. That’s all I’ll say."

"I thought it was $600,000," interjected one man in the crowd.

"That's for three speeches," Sanders responded.

Sanders lobbed the issue at Clinton during Sunday evening's Democratic debate.

Clinton campaign officials on Tuesday pointed to a list of analysts and journalists who have called the former secretary of state's Wall Street reform plan tougher than Sanders' plan. And Jennifer Palmieri, the national campaign's communications director, released a statement Tuesday likening Sanders' critique of Clinton's speaking fees to those from Republicans.

"Now he’s taking his cues from them, using a Karl Rove attack to go after her," Palmieri said in the statement.

Tom Cullinan, a 69-year-old retired college science professor, asked Sanders on how he would get Congress to move on Wall Street reform. Cullinan, a registered Democrat who caucused for John Edwards eight years ago, said he's been reading up economics and the last recession.

"Sadly, some of the economists said, 'well, we didn't break up the banks, so now we get to wait until the next time,'" he told Sanders.

Cullinan later said he's worried about too-big-to-fail banks and he believes Sanders is the only candidate adequately addressing the issue.

"If these guys crash the economy before the election, he's a shoe-in," said Cullinan, a registered Democrat who caucused for John Edwards eight years ago.

Sanders continued railing against Wall Street throughout the day. Tuesday evening in downtown Sioux City, he called Wall Street regulation the "elephant in the room that many people choose not to talk about."

"I do," Sanders said. "I talk about it."

"Now what is particularly vulgar about this whole business is that as all of you know, we’ve got kids in this country who were arrested for the possession of marijuana. They get a police record," Sanders said. "But the executive officers, the key players, in a corrupt financial institution that has ripped off God knows how many people, helped destroy the American economy – Not one of them will be charged with any crime. That’s wrong, and together, we are going to change that."

AT THE EVENTS

SETTINGS: Fort Museum Opera House in Fort Dodge; Santa Maria Winery in Carroll; UMBA Hall in Underwood; Orpheum Theatre in Sioux City

CROWDS: About 200 in Fort Dodge; about 200 in Carroll; about 350 in Underwood; more than 1,100 in Sioux City.

REACTIONS: The crowds were warm and enthusiastic on Tuesday. In Underwood, several audience members shared their personal stories of dealing with overwhelming student debt loads or burdensome healthcare costs. The large evening crowd in Sioux City frequently interrupted Sanders with applause and cheers. 

WHAT'S NEXT: Sanders wrapped up a one-day Iowa swing Tuesday evening. He will back in the state on Saturday. Visit DesMoinesRegister.com/CandidateTracker for more details.