- The Washington Times - Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was heckled by an audience member who called for her to denounce President Biden’s “warmongering” speech that asked for $100 billion in aid for Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine.

Mrs. Clinton was speaking on a panel at Columbia University on Monday to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights when a man disrupted the conversation. His exchange with Mrs. Clinton went on for more than three minutes.

“Can you please — can you make a statement about President Joe Biden’s speech?” the man yelled. “This is clearly a warmongering speech.”

He told her, “President Joe Biden is calling for $100 billion of funding for Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine and we’re supposed to just bundle these together and pretend like we’re going to rush to World War III, and we’re all just going to let Hillary Rodham Clinton sit here.”

Mrs. Clinton responded, “I’m sorry. You know, this is, this is not the way to have a conversation. You want to have a conversation, you are welcome to come talk to me afterwards.”

The man called out that he didn’t believe she would wait and talk to him after the event.

“Repesctfully, I do not believe you,” he said. “And the fact of the matter is that the American people’s voice is what needs to be heard because our president is not speaking for the American people, and neither are you.”

“Yeah, they are being heard,” Mrs. Clinton replied. “Well, that’s your opinion.”

“I’m going to exercise my free speech,” the man said.

Mrs. Clinton retorted, “But it’s not free speech when you are disrupting everybody else’s opportunity to speak.”

Mr. Biden spoke to the nation from the Oval Office last week, explaining why he would be asking Congress to pass a $105 billion aid package that would help Israel, Taiwan, Ukraine, and domestic issues. It includes $60 billion for Ukraine in its war with Russia, $14 billion to address the southern border, and roughly $14 billion for Israel in its war with Hamas. 

It also provides $7.4 billion for Taiwan and allies in the Indo-Pacific, and around $10 billion for humanitarian efforts in Ukraine, Israel and Gaza.

• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.

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