Hillary Clinton told late night talk show host Stephen Colbert Tuesday night that she’d let the big banks fail under her watch if they were to get in trouble again.
“Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,” Clinton said enthusiastically when asked if she would let the banks fail. “First of all, under Dodd-Frank, that is what will happen because we now have stress tests and I’m going to impose a risk fee on the big bank if they engage in risky behavior but they have to know, their shareholders have to know that yes, they will fail and if they’re too big to fail. Then under my plan and others that have been proposed, they may have to be broken up.”
FInancial reform has been a key issue on the campaign trail, as both Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley have pushed Wall Street reform and the reinstatement of Dodd Frank since the beginnings of their campaign. But the former secretary of State has numerous past ties to Wall Street banks, and was late to embrace such progressive views on Wall Street, which also differ from the Obama administration.
Clinton first laid out her plans to crack down on Wall Street abuses in an October Bloomberg op-ed, focusing on the middle class.
Most of the late night interview was less serious than possible bank failures. Colbert and Clinton discussed her Monday birthday, and she admitted she watched “bad TV” and spent time with her family.
When asked if she would rather run against Donald Trump or Ben Carson, Clinton laughed and said, “I’m gonna leave that to the Republicans,” and said she doesn’t want to influence the race.
This is Clinton’s second appearance on late night TV, after her interview with Jimmy Fallon earlier this month. On Nov. 5 she will appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
