Bernie Sanders said he would fight against incoming president Donald Trump’s nominations for leaders of the Department of Labor and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The Vermont senator, who unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, made the comments during an interview that aired Thursday on MSNBC’s "Morning Joe."
Trump announced Dec. 7 he had selected Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.
Pruitt, the Oklahoma attorney general, has been an opponent of President Barack Obama's climate-change agenda.
"In my view, there can't be any compromise on climate change," Sanders said. "Bringing forward a nominee for the EPA, Mr. Pruitt, who does not believe in environmental protection, is crazy. It is insane. Climate change is real, and it is one of the great threats to our planet."
"Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough also slammed Pruitt, saying his anti-climate change views are "out of the mainstream."
Trump's nominee for the Department of Labor is Andrew Puzder, whom he officially announced as the nominee Dec. 8, according to The New York Times.
Puzder is the CEO of CKE, the owner of fast-food chains Hardee's and Carl's, Jr., and has drawn fire for being opposed to an increase in the minimum wage, The Times reported.
"The American people overwhelmingly understand that a $7.25 federal minimum wage is a starvation wage," Sanders said. ". . . Republicans understand that. Democrats understand that. We need to have a secretary of labor who is going to be on the side of working people, not just big business. And that is another example of a very bad appointment."
Trump could have made "center-right" appointments for his Cabinet picks, Sanders said, but instead chose "right-wing extremists" such as Pruitt.
Sanders said he was not opposed to working with the president-elect and his administration.
"If he is prepared to work with us on a trade policy which works for the American worker and not just the CEO of large multinational corporations, let's work together on those areas," Sanders said.
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