Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that she knows "just a little bit" about commodities and trading.
"I know just a little bit about commodities and their trading, their buying, their selling, both futures and the actual commodities themselves," she said.
Clinton knew her stuff in the 1970s, when she made $100,000 off a $1,000 investment in cattle futures.
The Clinton White House had to answer charges that she'd made the trades in an illicit arrangement to assure profit and initially claimed she made them herself. It turns out they were made by Jim Blair, the husband of close Clinton friend Diane Blair and a lawyer for Tyson Foods.
The New York Times reported in 1994:
Mr. Blair has said that he had suggested that she get into the commodities market, and that he used his knowledge of trading to guide her along the way.
During Mr. Clinton's tenure as Governor, Tyson benefited from several state decisions, including favorable environmental rulings, $9 million in state loans, and the placement of company executives on important state boards.
Mr. Blair and the Clintons denied any favoritism or conflict of interest when the trades were first reported earlier this month.