2016 Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton Defends Accepting $675,000 From Goldman Sachs in Speaking Fees
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton defended her decision to accept nearly $700,000 in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs, arguing that the money would not taint her view of the Wall Street firm if she wins the 2016 race.
While speaking at CNN's Democratic forum Wednesday night, anchor Anderson Cooper asked Clinton if it was wrong for her to collect huge fees each time she gave a speech before Goldman Sachs.
"You were paid $675,000 for three speeches. Was that a mistake? I mean was that a bad error in judgment?" Cooper asked at the town hall held in Derry, New Hampshire.
"Look, I made speeches to lots of groups. I told them what I thought. I answered questions," said the former secretary of State.
"But did you have to be paid $675,000?," Cooper asked.
"Well I don't know," Clinton responded. "That's what they offered."
The Democratic front-runner then justified her decision by noting that "every secretary of State I know has done that." Cooper, however, shot back saying that such action is not typical for the head of the State Department who is preparing to run for president. In response, Clinton said she was not committed to making a second run for the White House during that time.
"I didn't know whether I would run or not," said the former first lady.
However, she argued that she would not be influenced by the money.
"Anybody who knows me that thinks they can influence me -- name anything they've influenced me on," she said. "Just name one thing. I'm out here every day saying I'm going to shut them down, I'm going after them, I'm going to jail them if they should be jailed. I'm going to break them up."
"They're not giving me very much money now, I can tell you that much," she said. "Fine with me."
She added that the mass majority of the donors to her campaign come from "small-dollar donors."
On the other hand, her Democratic rival Bernie Sanders said a super-PAC supporting Clinton's campaign had accepted $15 million from Wall Street donors.
Watch a video clip of Hillary Clinton below:
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