Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders stated Sunday that he does not regret endorsing former Democratic Senate contender Graham Platner in Maine, despite assault accusations that ultimately led Platner to pull out of the campaign.
Appearing on CBS News’s “Face the Nation,” Sanders was questioned by host Margaret Brennan regarding his early backing of Platner. Brennan pressed the lawmaker on whether he wished he had intervened sooner to help Troy Jackson, Platner’s ultimate replacement as the Democratic Senate nominee.
“No, I don’t think so,” Sanders answered.
“When we heard the serious allegations made against him, I wanted to get on the phone, I wanted to talk to him. I did. I asked – along with virtually all his supporters – that he should get out of the race, and he did.”
When Brennan asked whether the candidates he endorses during this election cycle undergo comprehensive background checks, Sanders countered that he was uncertain about “who has to be ‘fully vetted.’”
“Well, all I know is, Margaret, the candidates that we are supporting are standing up for the working class of this country,” he explained, adding, “I think the candidates that I and other progressives are supporting are generating enormous grassroots excitement and enthusiasm.”
Sanders additionally pushed back on claims that endorsing progressive figures – including Jackson, Minnesota Senate candidate Peggy Flanagan, and Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed – exacerbates internal fractures between the party’s left wing and moderate establishment leaders.
“People are sick and tired of the … Democratic establishment and the Republican establishment,” he asserted.
The Vermont senator previously offered unyielding backing to Platner despite a string of controversies surrounding the oyster farmer.
Platner’s platform was marked by a polarizing, hardline anti-Israel stance; he frequently blasted American foreign aid to Israel, referred to military operations in Gaza as genocide, and faced intense backlash from Jewish Democratic groups after characterizing campaign contributions channeled through the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC in ways critics labeled antisemitic.
More recently, he accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of war crimes.
Beyond his virulent anti-Israel platform, Platner has come under fire following the revelation that he spent nearly two decades with a Nazi Totenkopf symbol tattooed on his chest.
Platner addressed the fascist imagery last October, admitting to having the tattoo for roughly 20 years. He rejected any personal alignment with Nazi ideology, asserting that he received the body art while “inebriated” as a young adult and without understanding its historical context. At the time, he did not explain why the symbol remained on his body for so long.
He subsequently altered the marking, stating that he ultimately decided to overlay the Nazi symbol with an entirely new design. Platner defended the decision by claiming that while his initial goal was total surgical removal, he opted for a cover-up design due to a scarcity of advanced tattoo removal.
El-Sayed, who has also been endorsed by Sanders, similarly made anti-Israel statements, having publicly labelled Israel’s military actions in Gaza a “genocide” and calling the Israeli government “as evil as Hamas.”
Furthermore, El-Sayed has repeatedly rebuffed questions regarding Israel’s fundamental right to exist as a Jewish state and has advocated for a complete halt to all US military assistance, both offensive and defensive, to Israel.
Sanders, who has been a vocal critic of Israeli policy, has four times tried to bring resolutions blocking arms sales to Israel but those resolutions have been voted down each time.
He has gone so far as to claim that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza, the first time he used this controversial term to describe the ongoing conflict.
Last July, the Jewish senator vehemently denounced the visit of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington, D.C., for a meeting with President Donald Trump.
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