Bernie Sanders awkwardly criticizes Washington Post event he was speaking at due to financial sponsorship

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Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., provoked some laughter when he appeared on Tuesday at a major outlet's event focused on interviewing the 2020 candidate on his vision for America.

As Sanders took the stage with Washington Post reporter Robert Costa, he apparently took issue with the Bank of America logo in the background. "Is Bank of America really sponsoring this?" Sanders asked, prompting audience laughter.

"Well, let's just get into the interview," Costa responded while shaking Sanders' hand. The comment seemed to be a lighthearted reference to Sanders longstanding campaign of calling out major corporations like Bank of America.

"People for Bernie," a pro-Sanders group, tweeted out the video showing the 2020 hopeful awkwardly raising the issue as soon as he stepped onto the stage.

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"Your occasional lesson that over the next 16 months the oligarchs of the world will fearmonger about a capital strike if @BernieSanders becomes president," the group tweeted. "It will all be mere talking points to build support for Trump so they can continue their decades long journey for more wealth."

The group added that rich people in the country knew they wouldn't make as much money under a Sanders administration as they did under President Trump's.

"The rich know they'll make money under a Sanders' admin, but they also know they won't be AS RICH as under a Trump administration. Don't listen to their lies. They aren't going to go on a capital strike," they tweeted. "If they did, they wouldn't make any money, and that's all they care about."

In an op-ed from May, Sanders called out Bank of America while outlining his vision for preventing banks from taking advantage of Americans.

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"Today's modern-day loan sharks are no longer lurking on street corners breaking kneecaps to collect their payments. They wear Armani suits and work on Wall Street, where they make obscene compensation packages and head financial institutions like JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America and American Express," he said.

Sanders, during the 2016 election, also blasted Bank of America and others -- accusing them of fraud and appearing to call for the government to break them up.

During his 2016 run, Sanders also called out his opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, for accepting large speaking fees from financial companies. Those included Bank of America, which reportedly gave her $225,000.