On Thursday, as a part of their speaking tour, Hillary and Bill Clinton took the stage of New York City’s Beacon Theatre. Their appearance took place just hours after Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks who was responsible for leaking emails taken from Clinton’s campaign, was arrested by British police. Even though Clinton technically stuck to her word about not mentioning President Trump, she did prove that her former rival was still fresh on her mind.
“While speaking at the Beacon Theatre, Clinton directed her attention to moderator Paul Begala and the other attendees and said: “It’s clear from the indictment that came out that it’s not about punishing journalism. It’s about assisting the hacking of the military computers, sealed information from the United States government.”
“And, look, I’ll wait and see what happens with the charges and how it proceeds, but he skipped bail in the U.K., in Sweden had those [rape] charges which have been dropped in the last several years. But, the bottom line is that he has to answer for what he’s done, as has been charged.” Clinton continued by adding: “I do think it’s ironic that he may be the only foreigner that this administration would welcome to the U.S.
During their speeches, the Clintons pointed at the Electoral College, the constitutional system that is used in the United States, which effectively reduces the influence of the more populated states in deciding who will win presidential elections, instead of using a popular vote system.
Referring to how Democrats have failed to win the White House in the past, Clinton said: “The day after the election, among the many things I was doing, I was listening to the radio. They were interviewing a French political scientist who said, ‘Well I do not understand, in our country the person who wins the most votes wins.’ We are equally confused.” She continued by saying: “I said in 2000 I think it should be abolished. We’ve evolved; one person, one vote. I had no idea that 19 years later I would feel even more strongly.”
Of course, Bill Clinton jumped in to say that when the Electoral College was started “communications weren’t what they are today.” He continued by adding: “It’s not like the small states would be shafted. If we don’t do something about this within 20 years, 70 percent of people who live in America will live in concentrated areas. The whole ground on which the electoral college was constituted no longer makes any sense.” In a separate topic, the Clintons responded to hearing that the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, had apparently won a fifth term in office.
A recent batch of Clinton’s highly classified emails was just unearthed from Clinton’s personal server. Apparently, some of the emails discussed establishing a “private, 100% off-the-record” back channel with Prime Minister Netanyahu. It was also determined that one of Clinton’s aides attempted to warn her that she was in “danger” of being “savaged by Jewish organizations, in the Jewish press and among the phalanx of neoconservative media” as a result of political machinations by “Bibi and the Jewish leadership.”
Officials from the Obama administration, the Clintons included, have had a long, tense relationship with Netanyahu. As described by the New York Times, the relationships the United States has had with Netanyahu have been “poisonous” for some time.
Bill Clinton also spoke about wanting Shimon Peres to win Israel’s general election in 1996 over Netanyahu. “You should never underestimate him. He’s highly intelligent. When we see Israeli elections, we say, ‘How does this shake out for the peace process? There’s lots of minority parties in Israel, and more of them aligned with the settler movement or religious fundamentalism than secularism or wanting peace,” said former President Bill Clinton about Peres.
Hillary Clinton also mentioned that she had worked closely with Netanyahu on a “range of issues.” According to Clinton, “There has to be some approach to reconciling the security needs of the Israelis with the need for greater autonomy and governanace by the Palestinians.” The Clintons’ are planning to continue their speaking tour for several more weeks, stopping in Vancouver, Canada, Boston, and Philadelphia.
