Asked about possible motivations for Goldman Sachs paying her $250,000 for a single speech, Hillary Clinton explained that she had interesting experiences worth paying to hear about. Businesses, Clinton said, want to better understand the world. Paying Clinton for speeches is, according to her, an avenue towards that end.
“As you know, your opponent Senator Sanders has been hitting on Wall Street contribution. Why do you think one of these big banks paid you over $200,000 for a speech?” asked Todd.
“I think what they were interested in, because what we talked about was the world. Coming off of four years as Secretary of State in a complicated world. People were interested in what I saw, what I thought,” replied Clinton.
Echoing the 2012 presidential election season narrative of President Barack Obama’s “gutsy call” to liquidate Islamic terrorist Obama Bin Laden, Clinton attempted to portray herself as central to the decision-making process leading up to the operation.
“A lot of interest in the Bin Laden raid, so such a tough decision was made, and what I advised the President,” added Clinton.
In 2012, in a campaign advertisement narrated by Tom Hanks, Bill Clinton implied that the political fallout of an operation gone awry was of greater consequence than risk assumed by the special forces and Navy SEALs who actually undertook the mission.
The Clintons have been been paid over $160 million since vacating the White House in 2000. Most of this money has come from speeches.
In 2014, Hillary Clinton said she and her husband were “dead broke” in 2000, struggling to pay mortgages for their multiple homes.
Meanwhile, with thinly-veiled class warfare rhetoric, Senator Bernie Sanders has portrayed Clinton as beholden to what he describes as the malevolent “greed” of Wall Street firms and “big banks.” Sanders makes no mention of the greed of government officials, bureaucrats, or persons financially invested in the expansion of governmental taxation and power.
“You got to be really, really, really good to get $250,000 for a speech,” quipped Sanders in Wednesday while in Iowa.
