Clinton camp canned husband’s Wall Street speech to avoid ‘bad rollout’ for White House run

Hillary Clinton’s campaign asked former President Bill Clinton to cancel a speech to a Wall Street investment firm last year because of concerns that the Clintons might appear to be too cosy with Wall Street just as the former secretary of state was about to announce her White House bid, newly released emails show.

Clinton aides say in hacked emails released Friday by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks that Hillary Clinton did not want her husband to cancel the speech, but after a “cool down period” was eventually convinced that cancelling was the right step.

Campaign manager Robby Mook said he realised cancelling the lucrative speech would disappoint both Clintons but “it’s a very consequential unforced error and could plague us in stories for months”.

The Clintons’ paid speeches have been an issue throughout the campaign, particularly Hillary Clinton’s private speeches to Wall Street firms. Hillary Clinton earned about US$1.5 million in speaking fees before launching her presidential campaign, while Bill Clinton reaped more than US$5 million from banking, tech and other corporate interests, according to financial documents filed by Hillary Clinton.

The campaign has never released transcripts of Hillary Clinton’s speeches, but the hacked emails did reveal excerpts flagged by her advisers as potentially concerning.