Hillary Clinton has said she won’t release the transcripts of her $225,000-a-piece speeches she gave to financial firms like Goldman Sachs. But her surrogate Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand suggested last week that she would. So will she or won’t she? ABC’s George Stephanopoulos wanted to know on Sunday.
“That [Bernie Sanders] ad does hit the speaking fees that you have had to deal with so many times,” Stephanopoulos said. “And the question of whether you’ll release the transcripts. Even your strong supporter, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, says you should release those transcripts. You said you’d do it when everybody else does, but what is the concern? Releasing those speeches would show you praising Wall Street?”
“No, I don’t have any concerns like that,” Clinton responded. “I’m just concerned about a constantly changing set of standards for everybody else but me.”
She went on to argue that there are expectations of what must be disclosed when one runs for president—tax releases during one’s time in public life being foremost among them.
“That’s what I’ve done. Thirty-three years are in the public domain. Eight are on my website,” she said. “Now, all of a sudden there’s a new standard. I’ve said, when it applies to everybody, you bet I will meet that standard as well.”
“But not until then?” Stephanopoulos asked, noting that Gillibrand said Clinton would release them.
“In accordance to the standard I have set, I absolutely will do that,” she said.
This, mind you, is the same Hillary Clinton who just last month said she’s been “the most transparent public official in modern times.”