Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley bashed Democratic 2016 frontrunner Hillary Clinton for “shamefully” trying to “hide her cozy relationship with Wall Street big banks by invoking the attacks of 9/11.”
The diss came during ABC News Democratic debate Saturday, where the candidates were grilled on their relationship with corporate America. O’Malley was referring to comments made by Clinton during a November debate where she said Wall Street supported her because she helped rebuild lower Manhattan after the attacks on the Twin Towers.
At Saturday’s debate, Clinton was allowed to respond to O’Malley’s attack. She pointed to ads funded by “two hedge fund billionaires” running against her in Iowa and New Hampshire.
“Now, you’d have to ask yourself why are they running ads against me? And the answer is because they know I will go right after them, that I will not let their agenda be America’s agenda,” Clinton said, before suggesting debate viewers check out OpenSecrets.com to see that she had more donations from teachers and students than from Wall Street.
She also accused O’Malley of having “no trouble at all going to Wall Street to raise money to run campaigns for Democratic governors,” when he was head of the Democratic Governors Association.
She then turned her criticism to Sen. Bernie Sanders, who she called out implicitly for voting to undermine government’s ability to regulate the financial industry.
“So if we’re going to be talking like this, we can, and maybe we can score some political points. But the fact is every one of us stands for the kind of economy that will work better for every American,” Clinton said. “And if that means taking on Wall Street, I have a plan that is tough and comprehensive and praised by a lot of folks who say it goes further than what both Senator Sanders and Governor O’Malley are proposing.”
