Union leader Randi Weingarten stated on Twitter that she had been aware of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s secret, private email address prior to the New York Times story that first revealed it.
Weingarten, a prominent liberal leader and president of the 1.6 million-member American Federation of Teachers, made the assertion after joining in a Twitter exchange late Friday between CNBC’s John Harwood and Jeb Bush spokesman Tim Miller over whether Bush’s use of private email was similar to Clinton’s. Weingarten chimed in stating “-and how was it secret? Point abt Bush is he and others do the same-.”
Miller responded, asking, “also if not secret – did you know about the private email before the NYT story?” Weingarten replied “yes” but did not elaborate.
Although she didn’t explicitly say so, the context would suggest Weingarten was saying that she had exchanged messages on Clinton’s private address. It is not clear what Weingarten meant with her claim that the address was not secret, although she could have meant that it was not officially classified.
The teachers union did not respond to a request for clarification of the remarks. Weingarten, usually a prolific tweeter who often engages her critics, has not offered any further comments on Clinton’s email use.
Weingarten is major figure in Democratic politics. The Center for Responsive Politics lists AFT as a “heavy hitter” in political spending, reporting that it doled out $19.5 million in the 2014 election alone — the majority of it, $13 million, going to its tax-exempt political committee, AFT Solidarity. It also spent about $3 million in lobbying fees in 2013-2014. AFT is also a top donor to the Clinton Foundation, listed on its website as giving between $1 million and 5 million in 2014.
She is also a Hillary Clinton donor, having given $3,250 to the former secretary of state’s Senate and presidential campaigns, and $1,000 to Ready for Hillary, the political action committee created by Clinton’s allies to boost her expected presidential bid.
Hat tip: The Free Beacon’s Lachlan Markay.
