"We need major, major reforms to the Democratic Party," Bernie Sanders added Wednesday. | Getty Sanders on Trump: Hold him accountable

Sen. Bernie Sanders laid out a plan to fight President-elect Donald Trump: Hold him accountable to every promise he's made.

"Mr. Trump, we have a list of everything you said and we are going to hold you to account," Sanders said to a packed auditorium of college students on The George Washington University campus Wednesday.


"Mr. Trump said a whole lot of things, a whole lot of things and sometimes I think they would just come off the top of his head. Toward the end of the campaign he was actually using the term that many Democrats use. He was saying that he was going to be the champion of the American working class. That's what he said."

The Vermont senator's comments came more than a week after the Election Day drubbing Democrats suffered, leaving the party without a strong bench and few mechanisms to fight a Republican Party that controls the House, the Senate, and the White House.

Senate Democrats looked to try and stop some of that bleeding by elevating the Vermont senator and former presidential candidate in the Democratic primary to a new post: outreach chair. It's still unclear what exactly that new leadership role will entail and when asked during a question-and-answer portion of the appearance about it, Sanders didn't offer many details.

"I think my title is to be head of outreach and that's something that I take very seriously," he said, without explaining any more about the new role.

But Sanders did pound home his remedies for the Democratic Party.

"We need major, major reforms to the Democratic Party," Sanders said going on to say that Trump was able to tap into discontent among Americans who felt completely ignored by the rest of the American political system.

Trump, Sanders continued, "said I hear that you are hurting and I hear and understand that you're worried about the future, about your kids, and I alone can do something about it — and people voted for him."

Sanders went on to tick off the promises Trump made that Democrats would hold him accountable for.

"He said we will not cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Now I think that we should expand Social Security," Sanders continued. "That is what he said, and pay attention to see what he now does. The question that will be resolved pretty quickly is whether or not everything that he was saying to the working class of this country was hypocrisy, was dishonest or whether he was sincere — and we will find out soon enough."

Sanders recalled more promises made by the president-elect: "Mr. Trump says he wants to invest a trillion dollars in our crumbling infrastructure. That is a good sum of money, that is exactly what we should be doing and we will create millions of good-paying jobs if we do that. Mr. Trump, that's what you said on the campaign trail; that's what we look forward to seeing from you."

Sanders' speech comes as Trump grapples with reports that his transition team is struggling to make the necessary preparations for when Trump formally becomes president, as well as a time when he has appeared to waver over some of his key campaign promises.

Sanders wasn’t arguing that it is only important to call out Trump for any hypocrisy; he also said he would work with the incoming president if and where their policy positions intersected.

"Mr. Trump said that Wall Street, dangerous, doing bad things, he wants to re-establish Glass-Steagall legislation. I look forward to working with him," Sanders said.

The Vermont senator's speech also added to the growing demand among Democrats that Trump drop Steve Bannon, his incoming White House chief strategist. Bannon, while serving as executive chairman of Breitbart News, pegged the news outlet as the "platform for the alt-right," which is known for anti-Semitic politics and ties to white nationalism. Almost 170 House Democrats earlier in the day signed a letter demanding Trump fire Bannon.

"We will not be involved in the expansion of bigotry, racism, sexism," Sanders said. "Mr. Trump, we are not going backwards in terms of bigotry. We are going forward in creating a nondiscriminatory society."

The speech had the makings of one made by a leader of the Democratic Party. But Sanders shied away from fully hinting at running for president again. Asked whether he would run for president in 2020, Sanders demurred.

"The last thing the American people are worried about is who's going to run in 2020," Sanders said.