Hacked 80-page roundup of paid speeches shows Clinton ‘praising Wall Street’

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Hillary Clinton frequently offered warm and at times sympathetic words for Wall Street during her paid speeches before some of the biggest financial powerhouses as the nation was still recovering from the 2008 crisis, according to excerpts flagged as problematic by her speaker’s bureau.

WikiLeaks’ trove of hacked emails from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s Gmail account includes an 80-page attachment seemingly from the Harry Walker Agency that highlights hundreds of “speech flags.”

The document sorts the speech excerpts by more than 50 categories, including China, Clinton Foundation, Equal Pay, Government Surveillance, Islam, Personal Wealth, and Praising Wall Street.

The Clinton campaign declined to comment about the authenticity of the document, with spokesman Glen Caplin saying, “By dribbling these out every day WikiLeaks is proving they are nothing but a propaganda arm of the Kremlin with a political agenda doing [Vladimir] Putin’s dirty work to help elect Donald Trump. The FBI is now investigating this crime, the unanswered questions are why Donald Trump strangely won’t condemn it and whether any of his associates are involved.”

While Clinton warns against the excesses of Wall Street and openly talks about closing the carried-interest loophole that benefits many bankers, her language in front of financial firms ranging from Goldman Sachs to Fidelity could prove problematic, and includes flattering overtures about the contributions bankers have made to the social good.

In a speech before a Goldman Sachs Symposium in October 2013, Clinton talks about the rampant blame that Wall Street faced after the crisis, saying, “And I think that there’s a lot that could have been avoided in terms of both misunderstanding and really politicizing what happened with greater transparency, with greater openness on all sides, you know, what happened, how did it happen, how do we prevent it from happening?”

In the same speech, she talked about the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill as something that needed to pass “for political reasons.”

She also talked before a San Diego securities law firm in September 2014 and talked about being a New York senator representing Wall Street who “did all I could to make sure they continued to prosper.”

And she joked at a Goldman conference in June 2013 about the bankers being “the smartest people.”

Below are more of the excerpts from her Wall Street speeches, as presented by her speaker’s bureau:

When A Questioner At Goldman Sachs Said She Raised Money For Hillary Clinton In 2008, Hillary Clinton Joked “You Are The Smartest People.” “PARTICIPANT: Secretary, Ann Chow from Houston, Texas. I have had the honor to raise money for you when you were running for president in Texas. MS. CLINTON: You are the smartest people. PARTICIPANT: I think you actually called me on my cell phone, too. I talked to you afterwards.” [ Speech to Goldman Sachs, 2013 IBD Ceo Annual Conference, 6/4/13]

At A Goldman Summit, Hillary Clinton Said “Many Of You In This Room Are Masters Of The Trend Lines. You See Over The Horizon, You Think About Products That Nobody Has Invented, And You Go About The Business Of Trying To Do That.” “And, you know, let me just briefly say that one of the ways I look at domestic as well as international issues is by trying to focus not just on the headlines, although those are insistent and demand your attention, but to keep an eye on the trend lines. And many of you in this room are masters of the trend lines. You see over the horizon, you think about products that nobody has invented, and you go about the business of trying to do that.” [Goldman Sachs Builders And Innovators Summit, 10/29/13]

Tom Nides Thanked Clinton For Making Morgan Stanley Her First Business Audience After Leaving State. “Well, Madam Secretary, thank you. I don’t think the stock options were [inaudible] but the container was. And there is no Four Seasons in Baghdad, I assure you. Let me just — first of all, thank you for doing this. As you all know, this is one of the Secretary’s first business groups that she has spoken to since she’s left the State Department, so we’re honored that you would choose Morgan Stanley, and more importantly I’m honored that you’d choose our clients to come and spend a few minutes with.” [Clinton Speech For Morgan Stanley, 4/18/13]

Clinton Joked It’s “Risky” For Her To Speak To A Group Committed To Futures Markets Given Her Past Whitewater Scandal. “Now, it’s always a little bit risky for me to come speak to a group that is committed to the futures markets because — there’s a few knowing laughs — many years ago, I actually traded in the futures markets. I mean, this was so long ago, it was before computers were invented, I think. And I worked with a group of like-minded friends and associates who traded in pork bellies and cotton and other such things, and I did pretty well. I invested about a thousand dollars and traded up to about a hundred thousand. And then my daughter was born, and I just didn’t think I had enough time or mental space to figure out anything having to do with trading other than trading time with my daughter for time with the rest of my life. So I got out, and I thought that would be the end of it.” [Remarks to CME Group, 11/18/13]

Clinton Said That The Blame Placed On The United States Banking System For The Crisis “Could Have Been Avoided In Terms Of Both Misunderstanding And Really Politicizing What Happened.” “That was one of the reasons that I started traveling in February of ’09, so people could, you know, literally yell at me for the United States and our banking system causing this everywhere. Now, that’s an oversimplification we know, but it was the conventional wisdom. And I think that there’s a lot that could have been avoided in terms of both misunderstanding and really politicizing what happened with greater transparency, with greater openness on all sides, you know, what happened, how did it happen, how do we prevent it from happening? You guys help us figure it out and let’s make sure that we do it right this time. And I think that everybody was desperately trying to fend off the worst effects institutionally, governmentally, and there just wasn’t that opportunity to try to sort this out, and that came later.” [Goldman Sachs AIMS Alternative Investments Symposium, 10/24/13]

Clinton Said Of Wall Street, “You Have To Keep Looking Over The Horizon To Make Choices That Are Not Only Going To Benefit You But…The Larger Economy.” “I was struck by an op-ed that Terry had in the Wall Street Journal about two months ago. It was titled “Wall Street is Losing the Best and the Brightest,” but it was really about the disconnect that is growing between our financial markets and our economy between, as Terry said, Wall Street and Main Street. Now, one thing that came through to me loudly and clearly as Secretary of State for four years is that you have to keep looking to the future. That’s what you do, and you do it extremely well. You have to keep looking over the horizon to make choices that are going to not only benefit you but your institutions and, I would hope, the larger economy.” [Remarks to CME Group, 11/18/13]

Hillary Clinton Praised “Continuing Movements Towards Open Markets” And “Toward The Development Of A Middle Class That Can Buy The Products.” “But the trend lines are both positive and troubling. There is a still continuing movement toward open markets, toward greater innovation, toward the development of a middle class that can buy the products. As Lloyd was talking in his intro about the work that you do creating products and then making sure there’s markets by fostering the kind of inclusive prosperity that includes consumers is a positive trend in many parts of the world now. Democracy is holding its own, so people are still largely living under governments of their own choosing. The possibilities of technology increasing lifespan and access to education and so many other benefits that will redound to not only the advantage of the individual but larger society.” [Goldman Sachs Builders And Innovators Summit, 10/29/13]

Clinton Said Dodd-Frank Was Something That Needed To Pass “For Political Reasons.” “And with political people, again, I would say the same thing, you know, there was a lot of complaining about Dodd-Frank, but there was also a need to do something because for political reasons, if you were an elected member of Congress and people in your constituency were losing jobs and shutting businesses and everybody in the press is saying it’s all the fault of Wall Street, you can’t sit idly by and do nothing, but what you do is really important. And I think the jury is still out on that because it was very difficult to sort of sort through it all.” [Goldman Sachs AIMS Alternative Investments Symposium, 10/24/13]

Clinton Said Financial Reform “Really Has To Come From The Industry Itself.” “Remember what Teddy Roosevelt did. Yes, he took on what he saw as the excesses in the economy, but he also stood against the excesses in politics. He didn’t want to unleash a lot of nationalist, populistic reaction. He wanted to try to figure out how to get back into that balance that has served America so well over our entire nationhood. Today, there’s more that can and should be done that really has to come from the industry itself, and how we can strengthen our economy, create more jobs at a time where that’s increasingly challenging, to get back to Teddy Roosevelt’s square deal. And I really believe that our country and all of you are up to that job.” [Clinton Remarks to Deutsche Bank, 10/7/14]

Clinton: As Senator, “I Represented And Worked With” So Many On Wall Street And “Did All I Could To Make Sure They Continued To Prosper” But Still Called For Closing Carried Interest Loophole. In remarks at Robbins, Gellar, Rudman & Dowd in San Diego, Hillary Clinton said, “When I was a Senator from New York, I represented and worked with so many talented principled people who made their living in finance. But even thought I represented them and did all I could to make sure they continued to prosper, I called for closing the carried interest loophole and addressing skyrocketing CEO pay. I also was calling in ’06, ’07 for doing something about the mortgage crisis, because I saw every day from Wall Street literally to main streets across New York how a well-functioning financial system is essential. So when I raised early warnings about early warnings about subprime mortgages and called for regulating derivatives and over complex financial products, I didn’t get some big arguments, because people sort of said, no, that makes sense. But boy, have we had fights about it ever since.” [Hillary Clinton’s Remarks at Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd in San Diego, 9/04/14]

Goldman Sachs Representative Thanked Clinton For Her Courage In Continuing To Associate Herself With Wall Street After Crisis. “MR. O’NEILL: By the way, we really did appreciate when you were the senator from New York and your continued involvement in the issues (inaudible) to be courageous in some respects to associated with Wall Street and this environment. Thank you very much. SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I don’t feel particularly courageous. I mean, if we’re going to be an effective, efficient economy, we need to have all part of that engine running well, and that includes Wall Street and Main Street.” [Goldman Sachs AIMS Alternative Investments Symposium, 10/24/13]