Hillary Clinton’s paid speeches to Goldman Sachs Group have drawn criticism on the campaign trail, but they’re not the only talks she’s given to big banks.
Bank of America has also paid the Democratic presidential candidate and her husband more than $1 million combined to deliver talks to the Charlotte-based bank and its Merrill Lynch unit.
The Clintons collected the combined figure from Bank of America over four appearances from 2011 to 2014, according to financial disclosures posted by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Former President Bill Clinton was the speaker on three of those occasions, once taking in $500,000 for a 2014 gathering in London.
The large fees raise concerns about potential conflicts of interest and are likely to remain a hot topic on the campaign trail, said Eric Heberlig, a political science professor at UNC Charlotte.
“Taking fees like this, particularly from banks that have been bailed out by the taxpayers, it’s certainly hard to argue to the public that you’re not acting in a self-serving way,” Heberlig said.
My point is not that Hillary Clinton is bought and paid for by the banks.
I do not think that she is.
Instead, I am suggesting that she, and Bill, are peas in a pod with the corrupt financial class (see Rubin, Robert), and the speaking fees are a reward for being a member of the tribe.
This is not someone who is going to go after Wall Street any harder than Barack Obama, and as mind boggling as it sounds, the George W. Bush administration prosecuted more financial criminals than Obama has.