At a campaign rally in New York City, former President Bill Clinton, husband of 2016 Presidential contender Hillary Clinton, set off a firestorm of controversy when he said that supporters of Hillary’s opponent Bernie Sanders would “shoot every third person” working on Wall Street.
The video above, provided courtesy of CNN, shows former President Clinton at a rally for his wife making the following remarks:
I think it’s fine that all these young students have been so enthusiastic for her opponent and sound so good. “Just shoot every third person on Wall Street and everything will be fine.”
Hillary has been criticized by the Sanders campaign and others for what they call a too-cozy relationship with Wall Street institutions amid Sanders’s call for reform. In a new ad debuting Friday, in the wake of a heated debate in which the subject came up yet again, Sanders demanded that Clinton release the transcripts of several private speeches she gave to Wall Street firms:
The Weekly Standard noted that in Sanders’s newly released 2014 tax returns, which Clinton had been using as a counter to his call for her transcripts, Sanders claimed less in annual income ($200,000) than Clinton had in hourly income ($225,000 or more) in Wall Street speaking fees. Combined with the former President’s Wall Street speaking fees, the Clintons took in $153 million from private speaking fees. Former Secretary Clinton has downplayed the issue, noting that she made speeches to several groups and claiming that her speeches were tough on Wall Street practices. A former Goldman Sachs employee claiming to be at one of her speeches disputed that account, stating that she praised the firm in the speech for its ability to raise capital and create jobs.
While Sanders has requested release of the transcripts for months, the debate has heated up as New York gets closer to voting. The state is so far favoring its former Senator over its native son by 13.8 points, with the primary on April 19. If he can’t reverse that trend, election forecasters don’t give Sanders much of a chance.