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Friday, April 19, 2024 | Back issues
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Clinton Ignores Trump’s ‘Outlandish Lies’

(CN) - Hillary Clinton responded to a scathing critique from Donald Trump on Wednesday by mostly ignoring what she referred to as his "outlandish lies" during a campaign speech in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Instead, the presumptive Democratic nominee stuck with her plan to speak about "ambitious new goals" she has for the U.S. economy.

"Donald Trump offers no real solutions for the economic challenges we face," Clinton said before a rapturous crowd of banner-waving supporters at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh. "I'm here today to offer an alternative."

She said her desire to make sure the U.S. economy works for everyone, "not just those at the top, not just the rich or the well-connected, not just for people living in some parts of the country or people from certain backgrounds and not others."

Trump, she said, only spouts "reckless ideas that will run up our debt and cause another economic crash."

Clinton said the nation needs better-paying jobs, debt-free college, steps to allow companies to share their profits with workers, and ensuring Wall Street and corporations pay their fair share in taxes and policies to help families.

But if Clinton stayed on script, her campaign most definitely was working to address Trump's earlier broadsides. In an email sent out about half-way through the candidates remarks, the Clinton campaign addressed what it called the "15 biggest lies in Trump's speech attaching Hillary Clinton."

At the top of its list was Trump's claim that Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, who perished with three others during a 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, "made hundreds of requests for security. Hillary Clinton's State Department refused them all."

The Clinton campaign noted The Washington Post had already discredited that claim calling it "wildly exaggerated" and that there were no requests for security that were communicated directly from Stevens to Clinton.

In addition the campaign said, while "Trump is certainly entitled to his opinion" assertions that Clinton slept soundly while the ambassador was killed are simply unfounded.

"[T]he evidence shows Clinton was fully engaged in the immediate response, and subsequent congressional investigations concluded the government response to the attack — including Clinton's — was appropriate."

The campaign's full response to Trump's remarks can be found here.

Clinton's only other remark in Raleigh that was construed as a response to Trump, was a reference in the opening minutes of her speech when she spoke of the "values that I learned from my family and my faith."

"We are all in this together, and we have a responsibility to lift each other up," she said. "As we Methodists like to say, 'Do all the good you can to all the people you can in all the ways you can' ... That's why I got into public service in the first place, and it's why I am determined that we will win this election in November."

Clinton's appearance came hours after she paid her first visit to Capitol Hill since clinching the Democratic nomination.

To the surprise of no one, she was greeted by a rousing reception from House Democrats on Wednesday, making her first stop on who in contrast to their Republican counterparts have warmly embraced their party's standard-bearer.

Speaking behind closed doors, Clinton reportedly told the House members that she is committed to help Democrats win congressional races in the fall and perhaps even wrest control of the House from the GOP.

Coming out of the meeting, several House Democrats stressed their party's unity even as Clinton's primary season rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, continues to avoid what many consider either inevitable or long past due, endorsing the party's nominee.

In fact, Sanders has not even formally conceded the nomination to her although he may be getting close to doing that.

Appearing on C-SPAN Wednesday, the senator said "It doesn't appear that I'm going be the nominee."

He also urged Clinton to pick a running mate who he considers to be liberal. He says it would be a "terrible mistake for her to go to a candidate who has roots in Wall Street or has been backed by Wall Street."

The senator also said he expects to speak at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia to champion a "progressive" party platform.

Rep. Jim Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat, said Sander's intransigence is "a problem for the party."

"I would love to see Mr. Sanders endorse. Go all in," Clyburn said.

The Clinton and Sanders' campaigns are in discussions aimed at bridging their differences ahead of the Philadelphia convention.

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