Billionaire investor Leon Cooperman ramps up his criticism of Bernie Sanders, calling him a 'bigger threat' to the stock market than coronavirus
- Billionaire investor Leon Cooperman ripped into Sanders, saying he was "a bigger threat" to the stock market compared to the coronavirus, which has killed over 1,875 people in China.
- Cooperman also called the Vermont senator a communist.
- It's not the first time he weighed in on the volatile Democratic primary, as he previously tore into Elizabeth Warren last year as she gained strength in national polls.
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Billionaire investor Leon Cooperman ramped up his criticism of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Tuesday. He said the Vermont senator posed "a bigger threat" to the stock market than the coronavirus, which has killed 1,875 people, mostly in China.
"I look at Bernie Sanders as a bigger threat [to the stock market] than the coronavirus," Cooperman told CNBC's Scott Wapner. "I don't have any insight into the coronavirus, but I assume, with all the great minds of the world focused on this problem, that in three or four months this will become resolved."
Cooperman later criticized Sanders' progressive platform, which includes reining in Wall Street and breaking up six of the nation's largest banks.
"There are things that are very troubling to me. No. 1 is Bernie Sanders," Cooperman said Tuesday. "He is not a socialist. He is, rather, a communist.. I just hope the country isn't ready to elect a communist or a socialist. If we do, I think the market is in store for a big problem."
Cooperman has previously weighed in on the fluid Democratic primary race. He shed tears at the thought of Sen. Elizabeth Warren winning the White House, and later said that a Warren or Sanders presidency would tank the stock market by 25%.
The investor said last year in an interview with Politico about Warren: "I believe in a progressive income tax and the rich paying more. But this is the f---ing American dream she is s---ting on."
Sanders is steadily rising in national polls for the party's nomination.