The Slatest

Sanders’ Refusal to End Campaign Costs Taxpayers $38,000 a Day

Bernie Sanders is surrounded by his security detail as he walks through downtown Concord, New Hampshire, on Election Day, Feb. 9.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Sen. Bernie Sanders may not have a single bit of chance to clinch the Democratic Party presidential candidacy. But he hasn’t actually ended his campaign, which means the U.S. Secret Service is still traveling with him wherever he goes and a team of agents is guarding his home. The 24-hour protection is hardly cheap, costing taxpayers some $38,000 a day, according to the Washington Post.

If Sanders chooses to stay in his current limbo it means his security detail could cost taxpayers more than $1.56 million in the weeks between the last primary and the Democratic convention that begins on July 25. Sanders aides did not dispute the Post’s figure but did insist that the cost now is lower than in the past when the senator held several rallies a day in different cities.

While many Democrats continue to call on Sanders to drop out, the senator from Vermont received support from an unlikely source—Donald Trump. In a speech on Saturday, Trump said “crazy Bernie” may be “crazy as a bed bug, but he doesn’t quit.” The presumptive Republican nominee suggested Sanders is waiting for the FBI to indict Hillary Clinton over her use of a private email server.

“I think Bernie should continue to go forward, folks, he should continue to go forward. He should fight to the last end. Well, he is waiting for really the FBI to do what everybody thinks they’re going to do,” Trump said. “I think he is sort of saying look, oh, let’s hang in there. Because ultimately, it’s called the FBI convention. And then we’ll be the only people.”

Read more Slate coverage of the Democratic primary.