Hillary Clinton ‘Sick Of Sanders Campaign Lying’ About Her
During a campaign event today, Hillary Clinton appeared to lose her patience with the Sanders campaign after being asked about her record on accepting money from the fossil fuel lobby. Replying to a Greenpeace activist, Clinton said “I’m so sick of the Sanders campaign,” reported The Hill.
“I’m so sick of the Sanders campaign lying about me. I’m sick of it, I do not have – I have money from people who work for fossil fuel companies,” Clinton said during the campaign event today, after being questioned by a Greenpeace activist.
During Hillary Clinton’s “I’m so sick of the Sanders campaign” outburst, she was visibly angry, and stuck her finger in the activist’s face, reasserting that – in her words – she does accept money from the fossil fuel industry and never promised not to accept money from the fossil fuel industry. It’s a sticking point among some Sanders supporters, who cite Clinton’s acceptance of oil money as a capitulation to the oil industry, a suggestion that Clinton isn’t as supportive of the “green economy” as she claims to be, reports the Washington Post.
Hillary Clinton says she's 'sick of the Sanders campaign lying' about her https://t.co/exUAi8IinY
— Mashable (@mashable) March 31, 2016
According to a report from the Huffington Post, Hillary Clinton has received large donations from fossil fuel lobbying firms in the past, which Clinton claimed today that she’s always been honest about. But it’s never been a popular part of the Clinton campaign, as Politico reports. Last year, during Hillary Clinton’s sweep through Iowa, she was asked by a local climate change group whether or not she would join opponents Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley in committing to reject money from the fossil fuel industry.
Clinton didn’t make the same pledge that Sanders and O’Malley did, but she did claim that the oil industry isn’t a “big fan” of her, and if they did give her money it hasn’t had any effect on her political positions. The climate change advocate in Iowa pressed Clinton, who claimed not to know if she’d taken money from big oil.
“Have I? Okay, well, I’ll check on that. They certainly haven’t made much of an impression on me if I don’t even know it – I’m not exactly one of their favorites,” Clinton said in an Iowa campaign stop late last year.
According to Politico, the Sanders campaign claims that Clinton has been heavily financed by the oil industry, particularly oil and natural gas lobbyists, many of whom are vocal opponents of green jobs and alternative sources of energy.
But, Politico fact-checkers report that the Clinton campaign hasn’t accepted money directly from the oil industry, which would be a violation of campaign finance law. Additionally Hillary Clinton hasn’t received contributions from political action committees affiliated with the industry, but she has received large sums of money from oil and gas industry employees – a fact which the Sanders campaign is quick to point out.
“It’s no wonder that back in December, Clinton refused to agree to stop accepting money from the fossil fuel industry when pressed at a town hall, saying “I’m going to do a litmus test on them.”
“If Secretary Clinton wants to discuss this and other important issues, she should stop stalling and agree to a debate in New York before the April 19 primary election,” said Senator Bernie Sanders during a campaign stop tonight.
According to Greenpeace, the organization behind the activist in Clinton’s “sick of the Sanders campaign” clip, over 57 individual oil industry lobbyists have donated to the Clinton campaign, 43 of which donated the maximum amount allowable under U.S. campaign finance law – including an additional 11 oil industry lobbyists who bundled together a donation package totaling $1.1 million.
[Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images]
