Hillary Clinton claimed that many other politicians receive donations from Wall Street and give paid speeches, so the scrutiny she faces is unfair and unnecessary.
“Sure, if everybody does it, and that includes the Republicans,” Clinton said when asked if she’d release transcripts of her paid speeches to Wall Street during her portion of the CNN Democratic Town Hall on Tuesday night. “Why is there one standard for me and not for everybody else? I’m on record … I have been upfront and strong on this issue for a long time as strong I would argue as my esteemed opponent.”
The former secretary of state argued that her long record of fighting for Wall Street reform proves that she has nothing to hide as she refused to release her speech transcripts. Clinton also dismissed the idea that just because she took money from an organization that she is beholden to it.
“President Obama took an enormous amount of money, more than anybody ever had from Wall Street in 2008 when he was successful in his election. Then he turned around and pushed through the toughest regulations that we’ve seen since the Great Depression,” Clinton said. “So the argument doesn’t hold up. But again if everybody is going to do the same thing then I’ll be part of it.”
