Ralph Nader Calls Out Hillary Clinton over Private Speech Transcripts

Ralph Nader Calls Out Hillary Clinton Over Private Speech Transcripts
Drew Angerer/Getty Images/AFP PHOTO/Brendan SMIALOWSKI

Ralph Nader, presidential candidate for the Green Party in 2000, is calling for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to release her transcripts from her numerous closed-door speeches given to people from Goldman Sachs and other high-profile Wall Street companies.

In an article with CommonDreams.org, Nader calls upon Clinton to release the transcripts that she said she would release, however, up until this point, she has failed to do so.

“Why wouldn’t Hillary tell the American people, whose votes she wants, what she told corporations in private for almost two years?” Nader wrote. “Is it that she doesn’t want to be accused of doubletalk, of ‘gushing’ (as one insider told the Wall Street Journal) when addressing bankers, stock traders or corporate bosses?”

These speeches are so controversial in part because of the high price tag they came with. Clinton would charge an average of $5,000 per minute for her speeches.

“We know she has such transcripts. Her contract with these numerous business groups, prepared by the Harry Walker Lecture Agency, stipulated that the sponsor pay $1000 for a stenographer to take down a verbatim record, exclusively for her possession.”

Before the primaries were over, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Clinton’s former Democratic opponent attacked Clinton for not releasing these transcripts. Nader pointed out Sanders’s stance on the Clinton speech transcripts. “Bernie Sanders replied that he had no transcripts because he doesn’t give paid speeches to business audiences.”

With the Clinton campaign shielding Clinton from the press more and more, it seems like an impossible task to get Clinton to answer any questions. Nader reminds readers that Clinton has not held a press conference since last December. Breitbart News reported that it has been 260 days and counting since her last press conference.

There are two very different people with very different perspectives running for president in November. On one hand, we have Donald Trump who is unpredictable, and on the other, Hillary Clinton who already has a long list of examples of her putting her own and her donors’ interests before the United States’s.

According to Nader, “Where Trump’s White House is seen as utterly unpredictable, Hillary’s White House is utterly predictable: more Wall Street, more military adventures.” Nader continued, “As Senator and Secretary of State she has never seen a weapons system or a war that she didn’t support.”

In closing, Nader linked two different videos that show the transparency issues of each candidate.

“To help people prevail against the refusals to disclose by Hillary and Donald, I’ve made two videos you may wish to see and share.”

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