OPINION:
Hillary Clinton again had to dodge the question about releasing the transcripts of her paid Wall Street speeches at Thursday night’s debate.
Listen folks, we’ll never be able to read whatever Shakespearean prose she delivered to Goldman Sachs for $475,000.
Or will we?
New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who has endorsed Mrs. Clinton, suggested Friday that Mrs. Clinton would be more than willing to release these transcripts — it’s something Mrs. Gillibrand herself would do for the sake of transparency.
“I think she will. I think she’s been clear that she’s going to, and yes I would,” Mrs. Gillibrand said on CNN after being asked whether Mrs. Clinton would release the speeches and if she’d do the same in that position. “I post my taxes online. I was one of the first senators to do that. And so, I like transparency and accountability and I know Hillary does as well. I think she wants to bring accountability into government.”
Well, Mrs. Clinton hasn’t been so clear if she’s going to release her speeches — in fact, in Thursday night’s debate she completely dodged the question, instead accusing rival Vermont Sen. Bernard Sanders of not releasing his tax returns (he promptly responded his 2014 returns would be released Friday).
“There are certain expectations when running for president — this is a new one,” Mrs. Clinton said of the transcripts, and then telling the audience to go to her website to see her eight years of tax returns. “When everybody does it, OK, I’ll do it.”
But Mr. Sanders has never made a paid speech to Wall Street.
It looks like Mrs. Gillibrand needs to reread the Clinton camp’s talking points memo, because one thing is certain: between both the speeches and setting up a private email server, Mrs. Clinton doesn’t value transparency and accountability.
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