Although Bernie Sanders (I-VT) blames the GOP for the current FBI investigation into his wife’s actions while she served as president for Vermont’s Burlington College, evidence indicates that Hillary’s Campaign Team performed opposition (‘oppo’) research against Sanders and his wife in 2015.
The move clearly underscored the campaign’s intention to use Sanders’ wife’s previous association with the college to tarnish his image. Despite this evidence, Sanders blames the GOP, touting the lawsuit as a political stunt. But the self-proclaimed socialist may need to reevaluate who his real enemies are.
From John Podesta’s Emails…
When WikiLeaks released John Podesta’s emails, it gave the country insight into the DNC and Clinton’s Campaign Team, and how both truly operate as political powerhouses.
“I think our first question is how are we going to defeat Sanders,” one email from Podesta read. “He’s not who he says he is — gun votes, DSCC money, Jane. There may be other options too but these seem to be the strongest attacks to consider. How we undermine Sanders candidacy is our threshold question.”
During Clinton’s 2015 campaign, a memo dubbed “Sanders Top Hits – Thematics” circulated amongst her team. This memo described the issues surrounding O’Meara Sanders and her potentially fraudulent land purchase.
Other opposition research addressed a variety of media reports and scandals. One of which included that O’Meara Sanders left Burlington College with a golden parachute of $200,000 and, prior to that, she had orchestrated a deal for her daughter’s company to receive $55,000 from the school.
Email correspondence verifies that Clinton’s campaign team believed that the scandals surrounding O’Meara Sanders and the college provided them with an opportunity to tarnish Bernie Sanders’ reputation and improve their chances of winning the Democratic Primary Election.
An email from a campaign official included an attachment of a ‘hits’ piece that outlined information about O’Meara Sanders — information that could be used to damage the Sanders’ reputations.
The official circulating this email writes: “We have a meeting scheduled on Thursday to discuss next steps on Bernie Sanders … we’d like for everyone to come having reviewed the material and ready to discuss which hits and themes we want to deploy.”
An FBI Investigation into Sanders’ Wife is Underway
The FBI investigation into Sanders’ wife was brought about by a complaint from a Roman Catholic parishioner in the Burlington diocese. This complaint was filed in January 2016. The 2015 John Podesta emails verify that the Clinton team was making allegations against O’Meara Sanders before the investigation even began.
Now, O’Meara Sanders is being investigated for the role she played in a $10 million land deal.
In 2010, while serving as Burlington College’s president, she coordinated a land deal between the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington Church and Burlington College. In order to secure the total amount needed to purchase the 33-acres of land, O’Meara Sanders allegedly obtained a $3.65 million second mortgage from the diocese and a bank loan of $6.5 million.
O’Meara Sanders is accused of exaggerating fundraising commitments to obtain the loan the college needed to purchase the $10 million parcel of land. According to the complaint, she told bank lenders and college trustees that Burlington College already had donations totaling $2.4 million, which would be used to begin repaying the loan. However, it was later discovered that some of those who were listed as donors on O’Meara Sanders’ documentation had not agreed to give the amount of money she had listed.
May 2016: Burlington College Closes
As time passed, critics tied O’Meara Sanders to the financial issues the college was facing. The lending agency’s members expressed concerns over whether the school would be able to handle repaying the loan: One member stated that without O’Meara Sanders, it would never have received approval.
Despite selling the 33-acre property O’Meara Sanders purchased while she was president of the school, due to its inability to meet accreditation standards and lack of funding, Burlington College closed.
According to recent reports, a Grand Jury has convened. While no charges have been filed against Jane O’Meara Sanders, the FBI has removed numerous boxes of documentation and records related to the college from the Sanders’ home. Jane O’Meara Sanders has hired representation. In addition, several people who worked at Burlington College have been questioned by the FBI as well as by O’Meara Sanders’ attorneys.
~ Conservative Zone
