Hillary Clinton on Sunday invoked President Abraham Lincoln to defend her past suggestion, leaked in transcripts released last week, that it’s all right for politicians to have a “public and a private position.”
In April 2013, Clinton said lawmakers should conceal the policy-making process from voters because the backroom deals it entails could make them “nervous,” according to the hacked speech excerpts.
“If everybody’s watching, you know, all of the back room discussions and the deals, you know, then people get a little nervous, to say the least. So, you need both a public and a private position,” Clinton said during a speech to the National Multi-Housing Council, for which she earned $225,000.
“That was something I said about Abraham Lincoln,” Clinton explained Sunday when asked about her 2013 remarks. “I was making the point that it is hard sometimes to get the Congress to do what you want to do.”
The Democratic nominee then attacked the Russians who allegedly hacked the inbox of her campaign chairman and posted the transcripts of her past paid speeches, for which she pocketed millions.
“Our intelligence community just came out and said, in the last few days that the Kremlin … are directing the attacks, the hacking, on American accounts to influence our election,” she said.
“The Russians hack information, we don’t even know if it’s accurate,” Clinton added. “Believe me, they’re not doing it to get me elected.”
Donald Trump seized on his opponent’s dismissal of revelations from the leaked transcripts.
“She lied, now she’s blaming the lie on the late, great Abraham Lincoln,” Trump said.
Clinton has suffered from a trust gap among voters, including many Democrats. Beyond the controversies that have plagued her campaign, such as her private email server, Clinton has suffered from the charge that she adopted progressive positions in order to overcome Sen. Bernie Sanders’ populist appeal in a tougher-than-expected primary.
