A Republican opposition research group is drawing attention to Hillary Clinton’s past public speaking stumbles ahead of her first showdown with Donald Trump Monday night.
In a video titled “Trust Deficit” that was released Monday morning, America Rising drew attention to the many times Clinton has been asked about the controversies surrounding her emails, paid speaking engagements or the donors to her family’s foundation.
Clinton has avoided the questions since she launched her campaign in April of last year.
“No, I’m not willing to say it was an error in judgment, because nothing that I did was wrong,” Clinton said during a January town hall when asked about her emails in a clip that was featured in the video.
In another clip, CNN’s Anderson Cooper asked Clinton during a February town hall whether she had to be paid $675,000 for a single speech.
“Well, I don’t know, that’s what they offered,” Clinton replied. That moment has been replayed by Republicans throughout the campaign as an example of the Democratic nominee’s elitism.
Another campaign clip showed Clinton promising to “put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business,” a gaffe that has cost her support in coal-rich pockets of key battleground states.
America Rising also released a satirical campaign memo ahead of Monday’s event, which poked fun at the Clinton campaign’s debate preparation amid her nationwide collapse in the poll.
In the fake memo, campaign manager Robby Mook, chairman John Podesta and vice chair Huma Abedin advise Clinton on ways to dodge questions about controversial Clinton Foundation donors or the millions she has spent on her Chappaqua, N.Y., home, should those topics arise in the debate.
“When the debate turns to your ongoing email scandal, remember you finally have an opponent who cares about the ‘damn emails,'” the memo stated. “Our advice: continue the Clinton Mantra: keep lying.”
Clinton will head into Monday’s debate on a mission to highlight what her team has characterized as Trump’s dishonest rhetoric. The former secretary of state’s team has spent the past week pushing Lester Holt, the debate moderator, to fact-check Trump in real time, signaling that a hands-off approach would constitute bias in favor of the Republican nominee.
But Clinton’s confidantes, both on and off her campaign staff, are beginning to cause headaches for her defenders as the Democratic nominee struggles to allay concerns about her falling poll numbers.
Republicans seized on reports Friday of the previously-undisclosed immunity agreements handed out during the FBI’s investigation of her emails, which brought the total number of such deals to five.
Jason Miller, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, said the agreement given to Cheryl Mills, Clinton’s former chief of staff, was proof the Obama administration “is protecting Hillary Clinton from accountability at all costs.”
Trump has frequently pointed to the controversial conclusion of the FBI investigation as evidence of the “rigged system” he promises to upend.
Mook has spawned unflattering headlines of his own by failing twice last week to answer basic questions about Clinton’s positions. On Sunday, he avoided a question about whether his candidate supported sanctuary cities, just days after dodging questions about her plans to handle the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo, Syria.
Clinton’s opponents were already armed with plenty of fodder to deploy in the race against one of the least-trusted nominees ever to run for president.
But the focus on her inner circle has compounded her problems with trustworthiness ahead of what industry experts predict will be the most-watched presidential debate in history.
“It’s been months since Secretary Clinton was forced to face tough questions in a debate, and America Rising is eagerly looking forward to Clinton being utterly incapable of adequately addressing any of the concerns voters have raised about her dishonesty and untrustworthiness,” said Jeff Bechdel, a spokesman for America Rising.
