Sen. Bernie Sanders nearly stormed off the set of an interview with ABC News’ “This Week” after the show’s co-anchor, Jonathan Karl, asked what Sanders referred to as a “nonsense” question about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“I helped form the Progressive Caucus. We had five people at that time. Now they got close to 100. So, you got a whole lot of good people. Alexandria is extraordinary. I am so impressed by her work in Congress and her, just, she inspires young people all over the country,” the independent senator from Vermont said about the Democratic New York congresswoman, when asked if he sees her as a future leader of the progressives.
The interview took place the same day as the Denver stop of Sanders’ “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, where he was joined by AOC.
“Would you like to see her join in the Senate?” Karl followed up.
“Right now, we have, as I said, just a whole lot of people in the Congress. Okay, Jonathan, thanks,” Sanders said, standing up abruptly.
“Wait, I got one more. I got one more, this is important,” Karl said.
“You know, you want to do nonsense, do nonsense,” Sanders responded, while standing off screen. “I don’t want to talk about inside the beltway stuff.”
“I was just asking you about AOC because she was out there with you,” Karl replied.
“Well, fine. But I don’t want to talk about this — what was the last question?” Sanders asked.
“I was just going to ask you one more question about you,” Karl said, ultimately getting the senator to sit back down to conclude the interview.
“I want to ask you about your future. This is the biggest crowd you said — you ran for president twice — this is the biggest crowd you’ve ever seen. Are we going to see you run again? What’s your future?” Karl asked.
“Right now, I am very proud that the people of the state of Vermont sent me back to the Senate with 63% of the vote. Right now, I’m Vermont’s senator. That’s what I do, and I’m very happy to do it,” Sanders responded. “I am 83 years of age, so, and I’m tired.”
