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Hillary Wanted Bill to Give Speech to Wall Street Bank Right after Her Presidential Announcement

AP
October 14, 2016

Hacked emails from Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta show that Bill Clinton was scheduled to give a speech to Morgan Stanley just days after his wife's presidential announcement in 2015.

The emails show that, after internal campaign deliberations, the former president cancelled his planned speech.

According to the email, Bill Clinton was scheduled to speak to the Wall Street bank on April 15, 2015, just three days after Hillary Clinton released a video announcing her 2016 presidential campaign.

Emails suggest that Podesta intervened to remove the speech from Bill Clinton's schedule. Robby Mook, now Clinton's campaign manager, emailed a close circle of campaign advisors that "Morgan Stanley is coming down—so we're good to go."

Top Hillary Clinton adviser Huma Abedin then asked who had requested that and Mook responded Podesta had.

The emails also show that Hillary Clinton believed that her husband should still give the speech following her announcement.

"HRC very strongly did not want him to cancel that particular speech," Abedin wrote in a follow-up email. Mook responded to her email acknowledging that having Bill Clinton speaking to a Wall Street bank right after the presidential roll-out could be problematic for the campaign.

"HRC is reiterating her original position. She does not want him to cancel," Abedin wrote, responding to Mook's suggestion that the speech would create complications for the start of their campaign. Mook then noted that polling showed Iowa caucus attendees have highly negative views of Wall Street and described the potential speech as "a very consequential unforced error and could plague us in stories for months."

The Clinton's close ties to Wall Street became a major issue in the Democratic primary. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) consistently called for Clinton to release her transcripts of speeches that she had given to major financial institutions. In 2013 alone, Clinton made $3.5 million in speaking fees to Wall Street institutions.

The Clinton campaign did not respond to requests for comment for this story.