After news broke this week that Bernie Sanders and his wife are lawyering up in response to an FBI investigation into alleged bank fraud, most viewers of Meet the Press — which landed an exclusive interview with the former presidential candidate today — would have assumed host Chuck Todd would lead with questions into the investigation.
No such luck.
Not only did Todd not lead the interview with a probe into Sanders' hiring of blue-chip defense attorneys and the status of the FBI investigation — the NBC host did not even ask about it.
The FBI is reportedly investigating a loan Jane Sanders applied for on behalf of Burlington College in 2010, a now-shuttered institution she was then the president of.
Mrs. Sanders is accused of inflating the college's assets on the loan application. Sen. Sanders is accused of using his office to pressure the bank, People's United Bank, into approving the loan, Politico reports.
To date, Sanders has managed to avoid discussing the potential scandal; a local reporter in Vermont appears to be the only one to ask Sanders directly about it.
At the time, Sanders would not comment except to blame the story on partisan Republican investigators.
What are the questions Todd felt were more important than this FBI investigation?
— Whether Sanders regrets claiming "thousands of people will die" if the Republican health-care bill passes.
— What it would take to get Democrats to help Republicans reform health care [three questions]
— Why the Democrats lost in the Georgia special election.
If an elected leader is apparently willing to exploit the power of his office to help a member of his family (in this case, his wife), that's exactly the type of thing voters deserve to know.
That Meet the Press apparently disagrees is likewise something voters deserve knowing.