Hillary Clinton said Thursday that Wall Street is trying to sink her campaign because it fears what her administration would mean for the banking industry.
Speaking at MSNBC’s Democratic presidential forum, Clinton claimed to be under attack from the banking titans she’s been accused of being too cozy with.
{mosads}“Part of the reason the Wall Street guys are trying so hard to stop me — the hedge fund guys, the shadow banking guys — is because I’ve got their number,” the former first lady said. “My plan goes so much further to try and prevent the problems [of the 2007 financial collapse] in the future.”
Clinton has been under fire for accepting six-figure payments for speeches given to Goldman Sachs.
She said those payments will not have an impact on her decision-making, and said that even President Obama accepted cash from Wall Street before signing the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law because “he’s a responsible person.”
Clinton claimed she was banging the drum to rein in Wall Street long before the economy tanked in 2007.
“I think the best evidence that the Wall Street people at least know where I stand and where I’ve always stood, is because they’re trying to beat me in this primary,” she said.
“They’ve collected and spent as much as $6 million on these ads, hedge fund billionaires, Karl Rove, another hedge fund billionaire, jumped in, and why are they doing that? These are guys who try to make smart investments. They know my record, they know me, they know that I say what I believe and I’ll do it and I also have a pretty good understanding of how to stop them.”
Sanders was not attacking Clinton as furiously at Thursday’s debate as he had been in recent days.
Instead of taking her head on, the Vermont Independent drew a tangential line from Clinton’s speaking fees at Goldman Sachs back to the recession.
“Wall Street is perhaps the most powerful economic and political force in this country,” he said. “You have companies like Goldman Sachs who just recently paid a settlement, a fine, to the federal government of $5 billion for defrauding investors. Goldman Sachs was one of those companies whose illegal activity helped destroy our economy and ruin the lives of millions of Americans.”
Clinton sought to stake out the left against Sanders, claiming he’s “too narrowly focused” in his attacks against the big banks and that his plan for a new Glass-Steagall Act doesn’t go as far as her plan does.
“I don’t believe that’s enough,” Clinton said of Sanders’s plan.
The senator shot back that his plan has been endorsed by progressive icon Elizabeth Warren.