Bernie Sanders announces 2020 presidential bid

DPA, 19th FEBRUARY, 2019 - US Senator Bernie Sanders said on Tuesday that he is running again to become president of the United States.

Sanders lost out to Hillary Clinton in his bid to win the Democratic nomination in the last presidential elections in 2016, but developed a strong following during the campaign.

Asked why he was running, the senator for the state of Vermont said on public radio that he thought incumbent President Donald Trump was “an embarrassment to our country” and a “pathological liar.”

He also described Trump as a “racist, a sexist, a homophobe, a xenophobe” who was trying “to divide the American people up.”

The 77-year-old left-winger indicated that he wanted to build on the policies that he championed in the 2016 campaign.

He said his ideas about climate change, healthcare, the minimum wage and education were seen as “too radical” three years ago but argued that they were more widely accepted now.