Sanders: ‘My wife is perhaps the most honest person I know’

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday defended his wife, Jane Sanders, amid an ongoing FBI investigation, saying she is “perhaps the most honest person” he knows.

“She did a great job in Burlington College,” the Vermont lawmaker told host Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

The former 2016 Democratic presidential contender blamed partisan politics for fueling the probe into her time at the Vermont college, saying it started about five years after she left the school and in the midst of his presidential campaign.

{mosads}”Right in the middle of my presidential campaign, I know this will shock the viewers, the vice-chairman of the Vermont Republican Party, who happened to be Donald Trump’s campaign manager, raised this issue and initiated this investigation,” he told Tapper.

“Sadly we’re in a moment where parties not only attack public officials, but they have to go after wives and children,” Sanders continued, calling it “pathetic.”

VTDigger, a Vermont-based blog, reported last year that Jane Sanders inflated how much the college had secured in donations, noting two instances in which a person said the amount of their financial pledge had been exaggerated on the school’s loan application.

Brady Toensing, a Vermont Republican lawyer who chaired Trump’s campaign in the state, used the VTDigger report to request the Justice Department to open an investigation for alleged fraud, the blog reported. 

The FBI is reportedly looking into whether Jane Sanders falsified such loan documents while serving as the head of Burlington College, which closed down in May 2016 after going bankrupt and failing to meet accreditation standards.

Bernie and Jane Sanders have hired two top D.C.-based lawyers to represent them during the ongoing probe, which began in January.