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Nervous? Sanders Knocks Over Mug While Being Questioned About How to Pay for His Social Programs

September 18, 2015

While being aggressively questioned by CBS This Morning anchor Norah O'Donnell Friday about how he would pay for the numerous free social programs he's promised, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) knocked over his mug at the roundtable, muttering, "Whoops."

Sanders, a self-described Democratic socialist, has promised free health care, tuition-free public colleges and expanded Social Security, among other programs, and while he denied he would raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans to 90 percent, he did say he admired that tax system under President Dwight D. Eisenhower for being "far more progressive than it was today."

"But how can you do that?" O'Donnell asked. "I mean, you're promising free health care for everybody, college for everybody, paid leave, and you haven't yet said how you're going to pay for it. You've suggested you would tax the wealthiest Americans at a rate about 90 percent."

"No, I did not suggest that," Sanders said.

"Then what would you tax the wealthiest Americans? How would you pay for this plan?" she asked.

"If you want tuition-free public colleges and universities, which I believe we will have, a tax on Wall Street speculation ... will more than pay for that," Sanders said. "We will end the fact that profitable corporations in some cases in America today pay zero in federal taxes because they stash their money in the Cayman Islands and in Bermuda."

"You want to raise the corporate taxes?" O'Donnell asked.

"Whoops," Sanders said, knocking over the mug as the interrogation continued. "Yeah."

Full exchange:

NORAH O'DONNELL: What does that mean, to make the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share? Would that mean taxing the wealthiest at 90 percent as you've suggested?

BERNIE SANDERS: No, I don't think you have to go up to 90 percent. But you can remember that under people like Dwight David Eisenhower, we had a tax system that was far more progressive than it was today. When you have --

O'DONNELL: Which was around 90 percent.

SANDERS: Yeah. I don't know that you have to go there. We will come up with some very specific ideas.

O'DONNELL: But how can you do that? I mean, you're promising free health care for everybody, college for everybody, paid leave, and you haven't yet said how you're going to pay for it. You've suggested you would tax the wealthiest Americans at a rate about 90 percent.

SANDERS: No, I did not suggest that.

O'DONNELL: Then what would you tax the wealthiest Americans? How would you pay for this plan?

SANDERS: This is what we would do. If you want tuition-free public colleges and universities, which I believe we will have, a tax on Wall Street speculation which will more than pay for that. We will end the fact that profitable corporations in some cases in America today pay zero in federal taxes because they stash their money in the Cayman Islands and in Bermuda.

O'DONNELL: You want to raise the corporate taxes?

SANDERS: (knocks over mug) Whoops. Yeah.

Published under: Bernie Sanders , CBS