Speaking at the CNN Democratic candidate Town Hall on Wednesday night, presumptive party nominee Hillary Clinton relied on an old favorite: "the vast right wing conspiracy" of billionaires trying to bring her down. But, later in the night, she had a hard time defending the money she received from a big Wall Street firm.
After Clinton answered a question from a supporter about right-wing attacks, moderator Anderson Cooper asked if Hillary Clinton still believed in a vast right-wing conspiracy. "Don't you?" she answered as the audience broke out in laughter. Cooper pressed, "I'm asking you." Ms. Clinton responded by saying that her rich detractors are trying to take over the country:
Yeah. It’s gotten even better funded. You know, they brought in some new multi-billionaires to pump the money in. Look, these guys play for keeps. They want to control our country. Senator Sanders and I agree on that completely. They want to rig the economy so they continue to get richer and richer, they could care less about income inequality. They solve their consciences by giving big money to philanthropy, you know getting big pictures of them standing in front of whatever charity they donated to but make no mistake, they want to destroy unions, they want to go after any economic interests that they don’t believe they can control.
An examination of the Iowa Caucus entrance polls indicate that Hillary Clinton's problems stem not attacks from a "right wing conspiracy," but from her lack of transparency regarding the secure information on her personal email scandal.
According to NBC News, "Clinton suffered significantly among Democrats who placed the most value on a candidate who is honest and trustworthy, getting only 10 percent to Sanders' 83 percent among these voters."
Ironically, after accusing the "right-wing" of being funded by rich people who want to take over the world, Ms. Clinton then had a hard time defending the huge speaking fees given to her by a major Wall Street firm. First, she gave a flippant answer and then she followed by saying she didn't know at the time that she would be running for President:
Cooper: One of the things that Sen. Sanders points to and a lot of your critics point to is you made three speeches for Goldman Sachs. You were paid $675,000 for three speeches. Was that a mistake? I mean was that a bad error in judgment?
Clinton: Look. I made speeches to lots of groups. I told them what I thought. I answered questions.
Cooper: But did you have to be paid $675,000?
Clinton: Well, I don't know. That's what they offered, so... (crowd laughs) You know every secretary of State that I know has done that.
Cooper: But (inaudible) for office they're not running for an office...
Clinton: Well, I didn't know...
Cooper: ... have known.
Clinton: To be honest I wasn't -- I wasn't committed to running. I didn't know whether I would or not.
Cooper: You didn't think you were going to run for president again?
Clinton: I didn't. You know when I was secretary of State several times I said you know I think I'm done. And you know, so many people came to me, started talking to me.
With that answer we learned two things about Ms. Clinton. First, getting money from "rich people" is only bad when it goes to Republicans. And second, she was probably the only person in the United States who didn't know she was going to run for president in 2016.
Watch the Cooper/Clinton exchange below: