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Clinton Responds To WikiLeaks During Debate, And Blames Russian Hackers (qz.com)

An anonymous Slashdot reader writes:During Sunday night's debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, moderators asked a question based on WikiLeaks documents released Friday -- to which both candidates responded. The leaked emails had included excerpts from Hillary's paid speeches to Wall Street in which she reportedly said "You need both a public and a private position on certain issues."

Clinton said she had been describing the 2012 movie Lincoln, and that Lincoln's use of different arguments for different groups of people was "a great display of presidential leadership." Then, citing intelligence reports, she said "Putin and the Russian government are directing the attacks -- the hacking on American accounts to influence our election...for Donald Trump."

Click through for a complete transcript of Clinton's remarks -- and Trump's response.
The question -- based on the WikiLeaks release -- was, "Is it okay for politicians to be two-faced? Is it acceptable for a politician to have a private stance on issues?"


Hillary Clinton's response:

Right. As I recall, that was something I said about Abraham Lincoln, after having seen the wonderful Steven Spielberg movie called Lincoln. It was a master class, watching President Lincoln get the Congress to approve the 13th Amendment. It was principled, and it was strategic. And I was making the point that it is hard sometimes to get the Congress to do what you want to do, and you have to keep working at it. And yes, President Lincoln was trying to convince some people, he used some arguments, convincing other people he used other arguments. That was a great -- I thought, a great display of presidential leadership.

But you know, let's talk about what's really going on here, Martha, because our intelligence community just came out and said in the last few days that the Kremlin, meaning Putin and the Russian government, are directing the attacks -- the hacking on American accounts to influence our election. And WikiLeaks is part of that, as are other sites where the Russians hack information -- we don't even know if it's accurate information -- and then they put it out. We have never, in the history of our country, been in a situation where an adversary, a foreign power, is working so hard to influence the outcome of the election. And believe me they're not doing it to get me elected. They're doing it to try to influence the election for Donald Trump.

Now maybe because he has praised Putin. Maybe because he says he agrees with a lot of what Putin wants to do. Maybe because he wants to do business in Moscow -- I don't know the reasons. But we deserve answers. And we should demand that Donald release all of his tax returns, so that people can see what are the entanglements and the financial relationship that he has with Russian and other foreign powers.


Donald Trump's response:

Well I think I should respond because -- so ridiculous. Look, now she's blaming -- she got caught in a total lie. Her papers went out to all her friends at the banks, Goldman Sachs and everybody else, and she said things -- WikiLeaks, that just came out. And you lied. Now she's blaming the lie on the late, great Abraham Lincoln. That's one that I haven't heard. [Audience laughs] Okay, honest Abe. Honest Abe never lied. That's the good thing. That's the big difference between Abraham Lincoln and you. That's a big, big difference. We're talking about some difference.

But as far as other elements of what she was saying, I don't know Putin. I think it would be great if we got along with Russia, because we could fight ISIS together, as an example -- but I don't know Putin. But I notice any time anything wrong happens, they like to say, "The Russians are..." She doesn't know if it's the Russians doing the hacking. Maybe there is no hacking. But they always blame Russia.

And the reason they blame is because they think they're trying to tarnish me with Russia. I know nothing about Russia. I know -- I know about Russia, but I know nothing about the inner workings of Russia. I don't deal there, I have no businesses there, I have no loans from Russia.

I have a very, very great balance sheet, so great that when I did the old post office on Pennsylvania Avenue, the United States government, because of my balance sheet, which they actually know very well, chose me to do the old post office between the White House and Congress -- chose me to do the old post office. One of the primary things, in fact perhaps the primary thing, was balance sheet. But I have no loans with Russia. You could go to the United States government, and they would probably tell you that, because they know my sheet very well.

In order to get that development, I had to have -- now the taxes are a very simple thing. As soon as I have -- first of all, I paid hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes. Many of her friends took bigger deductions -- Warren Buffett took a massive deduction. Soros, who's a friend of hers, took a massive deduction. Many of the people that are giving her all this money, that she can do many more commercials than me, gave or took massive deductions. I pay hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes, but -- but, as soon as my routine audit's finished, I'll release my returns. I'll be very proud to.

9 of 689 comments (clear)

  1. Re: Serious question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The hacker (Guccifer 2.0) who has claimed credit for the hacking says he's Romanian, but he could only give canned responses in fluent Romanian. When he was interviewed by a Romanian speaker, and had to give off-the-cuff answers, his Romanian (a Romance language) was full of errors that someone who spoke a slavic language (like Russian) would be likely to make. There's more evidence than you suggest.

  2. Re:A momentary look of genuine anger from Hillary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    There's 4 forces there:

    Assad, Russian backed dictator known for gassing his own people to stay in power. Biggest driver of extremism in Syria.
    ISIS: Invading adhoc force led by ex Sadam Intelligence officers leveraging religion to attract an army.
    Syrian Rebels: Oppose Assad, the nearest thing to a Western view available in the region.
    Kurds: Tribal force, militarized and extreme due to attacks from Turkey.

    We (West) unofficially back Kurds and Rebels. But due to Nato member Turkey have to be delicate about it. Russia backs Assad. Nobody backs ISIS.

    Alleppo is a city full of civilians and some Syrian rebels. It's been gassed with chlorine by Assad, bombed by Russia and Assad, and really Russia has given up any pretense of going after ISIS at this point, they are securing their own interests in the region, trying to secure Assad in power, which gives them a puppet in the region.

    So you try to conflate the Syrian rebels with ISIS and turn it into a political point for people who are uninformed of the detail. But what if you get your vane perfume vendor, Trump, into power, what then? Do you think somehow Trump's vanity and self deception can keep USA safe? He doesn't even know Russia invaded and annexed Ukraine. His plan for everything is to lock his people into a room till they come up with a solution. He's a bit of a joke, and its kinda sad.

  3. Re:Serious question by Tablizer · · Score: 3, Informative

    Is there any actual evidence that "the scary russians" are to blame for this?

    Joint Statement from the Department Of Homeland Security and Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Election Security

    "The U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) is confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations. The recent disclosures of alleged hacked e-mails on sites like DCLeaks.com and WikiLeaks and by the Guccifer 2.0 online persona are consistent with the methods and motivations of Russian-directed efforts. These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process. Such activity is not new to Moscow--the Russians have used similar tactics and techniques across Europe and Eurasia, for example, to influence public opinion there. We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia's senior-most officials could have authorized these activities."

    https://www.dhs.gov/news/2016/...

  4. Re:A momentary look of genuine anger from Hillary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    Your level of ignorance is astonishing.

    Syrian Rebels: Oppose Assad, the nearest thing to a Western view available in the region.

    If you mean by Western view violent armed group intent on killing and torturing people to loot resources then you are right. Do you mean that? Do confirm!

    In reality, so called "rebels" are nothing more than various shades of Islamists ranging from ISIS to splinters from Al Queda(Al nusra, or whatever they call themselves now, being the most prominent). There were secular groups but they do not exist now in Syria,except in name. Most of them,including ISIS help each other if there is no dispute about the loot. And all are funded ultimately by USA, Arab states, and Israel. What they and rebels want is to get Assad out, and hit Iran.

    Russian backed dictator known for gassing his own people to stay in power. Biggest driver of extremism in Syria....
    gassed with chlorine by Assad

    1/ Biggest drivers of Islamist extremism are its active promoters in Saudi Arabia, and justified opposition to barbaric actions of USA and Isreal. Assad do not come near in barbarity and is secular.
    2/ No proof whatever that Assad used chemical weapons, and chlorine is very bad as a weapon.

    Alleppo is a city full of civilians and some Syrian rebels.

    Alleppo had lots of civilians, until ISIS and so called "Rebels" drove most away. Few that remain are used by "Rebels" as human shields. There are safe routes open on Assad's side, if not forced to stay civilians can leave. Civilian deaths due only to use of them as human shields.

    Trump ... doesn't even know Russia invaded and annexed Ukraine.

    Well Russia did no such thing. So instead of Trump, it is only you who is ignorant. Russia incorporated Crimea (not Ukraine) after a referendum.

    Now , instead of spouting ignorance, go back to sucking on your Saudi master's dick, sissy boy. Or is is Jewish dick? Not much difference among the Semites.

  5. Re:Influence the election by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Informative

    You know Clinton didn't release the tape, right?

    His current attitude toward women is quite poor, and this tape just demonstrates that he thinks his money makes sexual assault okay. Even his supporters, I think it was Giuliani on the radio this morning, didn't try to defend what he said. Instead the angle was that he has changed, gone from billionaire playboy to presidential candidate and he wouldn't do that stuff now, even though he describes his own daughter as a "piece of ass".

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  6. Re:Great by Citizen+of+Earth · · Score: 4, Informative

    Trump could point out that Saudi Arabia is on Hillary's side considering that it has provided 20% of her campaign funding, where it is illegal for foreign government to fund American political campaigns.

  7. Didn't ANYBODY Check Wikileaks?! by careysub · · Score: 5, Informative

    Amazingly, nearly 400 posts on this thus far, and nobody has posted or linked to the actual Wikileaks dump on Clinton's comment. I know this is /. but checking facts before bloviating does have its merits.

    Here is is:

    CLINTON: You just have to sort of figure out how to -- getting back to that word, "balance" -- how to balance the public and the private efforts that are necessary to be successful, politically, and that's not just a comment about today. That, I think, has probably been true for all of our history, and if you saw the Spielberg movie, Lincoln, and how he was maneuvering and working to get the 13th Amendment passed, and he called one of my favorite predecessors, Secretary Seward, who had been the governor and senator from New York, ran against Lincoln for president, and he told Seward, I need your help to get this done. And Seward called some of his lobbyist friends who knew how to make a deal, and they just kept going at it. I mean, politics is like sausage being made. It is unsavory, and it always has been that way, but we usually end up where we need to be. But if everybody's watching, you know, all of the back room discussions and the deals, you know, then people get a little nervous, to say the least. So, you need both a public and a private position. And finally, I think -- I believe in evidence-based decision making. I want to know what the facts are. I mean, it's like when you guys go into some kind of a deal, you know, are you going to do that development or not, are you going to do that renovation or not, you know, you look at the numbers. You try to figure out what's going to work and what's not going to work. [Clinton Speech For National Multi-Housing Council, 4/24/13]

    So Clinton's characterization of her remarks in the debate last night are completely accurate, and the out-of-text paraphrase (not an actual quote) that is usually repeated is an intentional misrepresentation about what she really said.

    --
    Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
  8. Informative ++ by number6x · · Score: 5, Informative

    Mod-point sis1j informative!

    You are not throwing your vote away if you vote third party. You are voting for a third party if you vote third party. It is just as legitimate a vote as any other vote.

    It actually seems more like you are throwing your vote away if you vote Republican or Democrat. Neither of the two major parties seem to do what they promise, and neither of them seem to care about their voters, just their donors.

    Vote third party so you don't throw your vote away.

  9. Re:"we don't even know if it's accurate informatio by careysub · · Score: 4, Informative

    If we accept the Wikileaks transcript is taken as being accurate, then Clinton's "weird anecdote" is nothing less than a completely accurate statement of what she actually said. Does no one here bother to check facts?

    CLINTON: You just have to sort of figure out how to -- getting back to that word, "balance" -- how to balance the public and the private efforts that are necessary to be successful, politically, and that's not just a comment about today. That, I think, has probably been true for all of our history, and if you saw the Spielberg movie, Lincoln, and how he was maneuvering and working to get the 13th Amendment passed, and he called one of my favorite predecessors, Secretary Seward, who had been the governor and senator from New York, ran against Lincoln for president, and he told Seward, I need your help to get this done. And Seward called some of his lobbyist friends who knew how to make a deal, and they just kept going at it. I mean, politics is like sausage being made. It is unsavory, and it always has been that way, but we usually end up where we need to be. But if everybody's watching, you know, all of the back room discussions and the deals, you know, then people get a little nervous, to say the least. So, you need both a public and a private position. And finally, I think -- I believe in evidence-based decision making. I want to know what the facts are. I mean, it's like when you guys go into some kind of a deal, you know, are you going to do that development or not, are you going to do that renovation or not, you know, you look at the numbers. You try to figure out what's going to work and what's not going to work. [Clinton Speech For National Multi-Housing Council, 4/24/13]

    --
    Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj