Hillary Surrogate: D- Sanders 'Wholly-Owned Subsidiary of the NRA'

April 13th, 2016 7:52 PM

If Bernie Sanders is a subsidiary of the NRA, they really should spin him off. . . On today's MTP Daily, Hillary surrogate Hakeem Jeffries, a NYC congressman and Hillary surrogate, claimed that "Senator Bernie Sanders has effectively functioned as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Rifle association for the entirety of his career."

Really? Let's go to the scorecard. Sanders current NRA rating is a subterranean D-. Since 1992, he has racked up four Fs. His highest score was a C-. Kudos to Chuck Todd for reacting with incredulity: "can you really refer to him as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the NRA? Do you really believe that the NRA thinks that Bernie Sanders is just one of their guys?" Jeffries whined that if Hillary is going to be associated with Wall Street, it's fair to pin the NRA on Sanders. Question for Congressman Jeffries: when's the last time Sanders scored $250,000 for a speech to the NRA? 

HAKEEM JEFFRIES: It's the substantiative issues of importance to the African-American community and others that will determine who prevails in the New York primary. And from my standpoint, Secretary Clinton has been right on the issues as it relates to a whole host of concerns, particularly dealing with the gun-violence epidemic that continues to sweep many of the communities that I represent and many communities of color all across the country. 

And we know that Senator Bernie Sanders has effectively functioned as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Rifle Association for the entirety of his career, both as mayor, a member of the House and the Senate, voting five times against background checks. Voting twice to shield gun manufacturers from liability, voting, essentially to -- 

CHUCK TODD: Congressman, I understand you're against those votes. Can you really refer to him as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the NRA? Do you really believe that the NRA thinks that Bernie Sanders is just one of their guys? 

JEFFRIES: Well, look, I think the reality is, if we're going to essentially try to associate, wrongfully, Secretary Clinton with Wall Street interests, when she spent her career actually fighting against Wall Street interests, simply because a super PAC that she's prohibited by law from associating with, has received some contributions from individuals who may work in the financial services industry, then I think we need to fairly scrutinize the fact that Bernie Sanders has consistently stood on the side of the NRA on vote after vote, including the liability one, which the NRA said is the most important vote to that organization in a generation.