(Image: Valley News)
Bernie Sanders has received a “cease and desist” request from the American Legion for using their crest in one of Sanders' campaign mailers.
John Raughter, the American Legion's national spokesman, wrote in an email to the Valley News, “The American Legion Constitution prohibits the organization from endorsing political candidates or parties.”
The American Legion, whose membership consists of honorably discharged veterans and current members of the Armed Forces, is a 501(c)(3) organization and cannot legally endorse or be affiliated with a candidate for public office.
This is the second time that the American Legion has had to warn the Sanders campaign about using their emblem since Jan. 22.
As reported by The Blaze, “A Feb. 1 letter from the American Legion obtained by The Associated Press warns that ‘any further communication about it will be through our trademark attorney in the appropriate forum.’”
It is kind of ironic that the Sanders campaign would be so insistent on using a military emblem in their campaign mailers, considering the campaign confirmed back in August 2015 that Sanders had applied for "conscientious objector" status during the Vietnam War.
“As a college student in the 1960s, he was a pacifist. [He] isn’t now,” said Michael Briggs, Sanders' campaign spokesman, in an email.
Funnily enough, soon after he applied Sanders turned 26 years old and would have been too old to be drafted.