Tom Steyer: I Donated $91 Million to Dems to Help Keep Money out of Politics

BASH: I have to ask you about the other thing that you have done politically. And that is raise a lot of money and give a lot of money. 

You have said that the Democratic Party needs to get behind Bernie Sanders and his policies. But at the top of his agenda is limiting the influence of big money in politics. 

You were the biggest donor in the 2016 election cycle, giving over $91 million to Democrats. Are you a part of the problem that Bernie Sanders is working to fix? 

STEYER: Well, first of all, I'm absolutely in favor of changing the way that money is used in politics. And I think it is a huge problem, and I think it should be changed. 

Let me make two points. One, we try and do this in as transparent a way as possible, which is why I'm on your show right now, why I say everything that we're doing straightforwardly, so people can look at me and gauge whether I'm telling the truth and why I'm doing it. 

And, secondly, when you talk about spending that money, that money is spent on going door to door and having citizens talk to citizens about the issues of the day. 

It's spent registering over a million people in 2016 to make sure we get the broadest possible democracy. It's going on to 370 college campuses to talk to young people about the issues, to engage them, so that they will involve themselves and see the importance in the political process. 

In facts, what our organization does is try and make sure every underrepresented group gets registered, engaged and gets its voice in politics. 

So, in fact, we are trying to make the democracy as broad and strong as possible. If you want to change the way money works in politics, we're all behind you. We're working with the system we have right now as transparently and straightforwardly as possible.