
What exactly did Hillary Clinton say to her Wall Street friends when they paid her $225,000 an hour? According to reports by attendees at the time, Hillary was warm and friendly and decried “bank-bashing.”
Maybe that explains why she won’t release the transcripts of her Goldman speeches.
According to Politico, she struck “a soothing note on the global financial crisis, telling the audience, in effect: We all got into this mess together, and we’re all going to have to work together to get out of it.”
The Goldman crowd loved it. “What the bankers heard her to say was just what they would hope for from a prospective presidential candidate: Beating up the finance industry isn’t going to improve the economy — it needs to stop.”
It turns out that the big money men have feelings, too.
One of them offered this. “It was like, ‘Here’s someone who doesn’t want to vilify us but wants to get business back in the game,'” said an attendee. “Like, maybe here’s someone who can lead us out of the wilderness.”
The verbatim transcripts that she routinely demanded could certainly tell a story. She charged the speech hosts $1250 for a stenographer. So the answers are there.
But, there’s a problem: The transcripts remain Hillary’s sole property, so don’t expect to see them anytime soon.
She’s has been repeatedly asked whether she’ll release the transcripts. Generally, she ignores the question. The Washington Post requested them several times — to no avail. Asked about it during the New Hampshire debate, she said “She’ll look into it.”
That’s Hillary-speak for get lost.
Earlier, when a reporter from The Intercept asked her about releasing the transcripts at a campaign event, she laughed out loud.
Apparently that was a very funny request.
But here’s what’s not funny, Hillary: the Sanders campaign thinks it will become a big issue. Here’s what Sanders’ senior campaign strategist Tad Devine had to say:
“My advice would be: Don’t look into it too long because it’s not going to go away until they come out, okay?”
Them’s fightin’ words. And, judging by the press attention to the issue, Devine is right.
Stay tuned.