Sen. Bernie Sanders openly scoffed at former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s paid speeches to Wall Street firms during Wednesday’s debate, saying she “clearly” must have “intimidated” them before they donated $15 million to her super PAC.
“There is a reason why Wall Street has provided $15 million just in the last reporting period for the secretary’s super PAC,” Sanders told co-moderator Karen Tumulty. “Now, the secretary says it doesn’t influence her. Well that’s what every politician says who gets money from special interests.”
“The question the American people need to determine — you could say that Wall Street is greedy, they’re fraudulent, but they’re not dumb,” Sanders said before asking rhetorically, “why are they making those kind of contributions?”
The former secretary of state told Sanders that she went to the Wall Street firms and big banks before the recession hit in 2008 and told them they were “putting our economy at risk.” She also touted her plan to go after Wall Street overall, while invoking President Obama’s taking of money from Wall Street in the past.
“I have a public record and can you go look it up. I went to Wall Street before the great recession and basically called them out, said that their behavior was putting our economy at risk, called for a moratorium on foreclosures,” Clinton said. “I went to the Orlando area during the ’08 campaign to make the same case, visiting with families who had been defrauded by mortgages — these subprime mortgages that put them and their homes at risk.”
“I called for those changes. I have been on the record and now I do have the toughest, most comprehensive plan to go after Wall Street and not just the big banks, all the other financial interests that pose a threat to our economy,” Clinton said. “I have said no bank is too big to fail and no executive is too powerful to jail, and I will use the powers that have now been passed by the Congress by President Obama — who incidentally, took a lot of money from Wall Street, which didn’t stop him from signing into law the toughest regulations on the financial industry since the Great Depression.”
“Clearly, the secretary’s words to Wall Street has really intimidated them, and that is why they have given her $15 million in campaign contributions,” Sanders quipped.
