Clinton staff reviewed remarks, questions for events

Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign reviewed introductory remarks and suggested questions to be posed to her at public events, according to a new report.

Multiple emails reviewed by The Associated Press center around the Democratic front-runner’s visits to several college campuses.

{mosads}“They offered to write your introduction — I told them no,” Becky Mann, the head of public relations for South Carolina’s Greenville Technical College, told Keith Miller, the school’s president.

Mann said Clinton’s staff also suggested questions for the Democratic presidential front-runner after Miller’s introduction, including: “We have a number of students who have a financial need — what do we need to do to make college affordable?” 

Miller rejected the suggestions as “bad questions” before adding she would craft her own, “probably after hearing [Clinton’s] speech.” 

Clinton’s camp also reviewed a press release for the Des Moines transit agency, the AP said, along with a student’s introductory remarks at a high school in Keota, Iowa.

Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill told the news service that her team does not screen questioners nor script interactions.

“We take pride in Secretary Clinton’s ability to answer tough questions,” he said, noting that Clinton has taken at least 900 questions in events and that many of her most memorable moments were “completely unscripted.”

He added, however, that many event hosts want the campaign’s staff’s input.

“More often than not, it’s because they asked,” he said.

Robert Denson, president of Des Moines Area Community College, said the Clinton team’s moves are typical of other presidential campaigns.

“We did the same thing with [Donald] Trump,” he said, according to the AP, referencing the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee.

The news service said Denson included Clinton campaign talking points when he introduced her at a speech in August 2015.