Chris Wallace Pushes Back When Bernie Sanders Slams Companies: ‘I Happen To Know About It Because My Son Works There’

CNN anchor Chris Wallace pushed back when Bernie Sanders slammed several companies by name, including Blackstone — where Wallace’s son works.

Wallace’s HBO Max/CNN series Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace returned this week with new episodes featuring Wallace and comedy legend Carol Burnett.

In an extensive interview with Senator Sanders, Wallace dug in on Sanders over his description of an “American oligarchy,” and pushed back when the senator mentioned the company where Wallace’s son works:

SANDERS: You know who they are. They are people like Elon Musk. It’s the billionaire class that has enormous power. Let’s just take a look at what’s going on. Today, the people on top are doing phenomenally well and we have more income and wealth inequality we have ever had in the history of the country. You got three people who own more wealth than the bottom half of the American society. That is bad from a moral perspective and it’s bad from an economic perspective.

WALLACE: But Russian oligarchs are close associates of the central government who took over state-run industries.

SANDERS: Right.

WALLACE: The people you are talking about, the so-called American oligarchs, are self-made entrepreneurs who created big businesses that employ millions of Americans.

SANDERS: All right. The point is I’m not suggesting that oligarchy in the United States is like it is in Russia. I’m not suggesting that we are an authoritarian country like Russia is. But what I am suggesting, I’m not only suggesting what I believe to be true, and the facts back it up, is you have got a small number of people in this country, Chris, who have enormous power over our political life and our economy.

And the result is massive income and wealth inequality. Over 60 percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, people on top doing phenomenally well, then you have concentration of ownership. You want to talk about oligarchy? You have got three Wall Street firms, Blackstone, State Street and Vanguard, that control assets of $20 trillion. They are the major stockholders in over 90 percent of the S&P 500 companies.

WALLACE: Wait, wait. But when you are talking about Blackstone, for instance, and I happen to know about them because my son works there, they are investing the money of the teachers funds or public employees funds. Those are real people who getting are getting their pension from the process.

SANDERS: You asked me about oligarchy. I’m talking about power. If you have three Wall Street firms that combined are major stockholders in over 90 percent of the major corporations in America, determine who is on the board of directors.

Peter Wallace is the Global Head of Core Private Equity for Blackstone.

Watch above via Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace.

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