It didn’t take long for former President Trump and Fox News to respond to Hillary Clinton’s broadsides made during an address to New York Democrats.
Mr. Trump called Mrs. Clinton “’one of the most corrupt politicians ever to run for President.”
Mrs. Clinton lashed out at Mr. Trump in a speech Thursday that was intended to serve as a keynote address in support of Gov. Kathy Hochul, who the party nominated to run for a four-year term in November.
Instead, she used her time on stage to ridicule new allegations that her campaign was linked to spying on Mr. Trump’s email at his New York residences and the White House.
The allegations were made in a federal court filing, but Mrs. Clinton blames Republicans, Trump supporters and Fox News for ginning up a false accusation against her to distract from what she says are the party’s problems.
“It’s funny, the more trouble Trump gets into, the wilder the charges and conspiracy theories about me seem to get,” the former secretary state and first lady told the crowd.
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Mrs. Clinton directed her attack at Fox News, which is among the few media outlets covering the allegations against Mrs. Clinton.
“They are getting awfully close to actual malice in their attacks,” Mrs. Clinton said.
Sean Hannity, who hosts a prime-time show on Fox News and has featured the allegations of spying, said the network was merely covering the news, not committing an act of malice against her.
“Hillary, we invite you to bring it on,” Mr. Hannity said.
Mr. Trump, in his statement, explicitly attacked Mrs. Clinton over the illegal surveillance allegations. Trump has long argued his campaign and White House were spied upon by Democrats but the mainstream media has ridiculed him for it.
He said Mrs. Clinton “can break into the White House, my apartment, buildings I own, and my campaign — in other words, she can spy on a Presidential candidate and ultimately, the President of the United States — and the now totally discredited Fake News Media does everything they can not to talk about it.”
Mrs. Clinton, in her speech, said the new allegation against her was drummed up by the GOP to deflect attention from the Democratic-led investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, which the party blames on Republicans and Mr. Trump.
She pointed out Mr. Trump was also dropped by his accounting firm over unreliable financial statements.
“Investigations draw closer to him, and right on cue noise machine gets turned up, doesn’t it?” Mrs. Clinton told the crowd. “Fox leads the charge with accusations against me, counting on their audience to fall for it again and again.”
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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