Hillary Clinton is ready to put the Democratic primary in her rear view mirror and get to work on Donald Trump.
She made that abundantly clear in an exclusive interview with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Tuesday in West Virginia. Clinton also said that the FBI has still not contacted her regarding her private email server, and the Democratic front-runner detailed under what circumstances she would release transcripts of her paid speeches.
“I’m really focused on moving into the general election,” Clinton said when asked about the primary election Tuesday in Indiana. “And I think that’s where we have to be, because we’re going to have a tough campaign against a candidate who will literally say or do anything. And we’re going to take him on at every turn on what’s really important to the people of our country.”
Clinton shrugged off questions about Bernie Sanders, who is vowing to challenge Clinton all the way to the Democratic National Convention in July.
“We’re going to unify the party, and we’re going to have a great convention and we’re going to be absolutely focused on making our case to the American public against Donald Trump, and I think he will be a part of that,” Clinton said.
Giving the most clear picture of her campaign’s general election strategy from the candidate’s own mouth, she said she will try to avoid getting into the mud with Trump and keep her attacks focused on his policy and fitness to do the job.
“He has given no indication that he understands the gravity of the responsibilities that go with being commander-in-chief,” Clinton said when asked if Trump is qualified. “And that will be a big part of my campaign because, at some point, he’s going to have to be held to the standard we hold anybody running for president and commander-in-chief.”
And the former secretary of state framed Trump’s recent attacks on her playing the “woman’s card” as about more than just herself. “What he was saying in going after my qualifications is very familiar to a lot of women,” Clinton said. “We’re going to stand up and express our opinions. We’re going to claim what is rightfully ours in the workplace, in our society, in our economy, in our political system.”
Clinton also detailed what it would take for her to release the transcripts of paid speeches she gave to Goldman Sachs and others, something Sanders has made an issue of. Clinton said she had nothing to hide in them, but that she would only release them if Trump releases as many years of tax returns as she has in addition to the transcripts of his own paid speeches. And Clinton said neither she nor her staff have yet been contacted by the FBI, which is investigating the handling of classified information on the private email server she used a secretary of state. Clinton was speaking from West Virginia, where she is campaigning ahead of the state’s primary next week. On Monday, Clinton was confronted by an angry coal miner who had lost his job and found a recent comment on the loss of coal jobs offensive. Bill Clinton carried the state in the 1992, along with Kentucky and Tennessee, but it’s highly unlikely his wife will do the same this year if she is the Democratic Party’s nominee. “I am well aware of the politics in West Virginia,” Clinton said. “It’s gotten increasingly challenging for Democrats to be successful, and unfortunately, the political partisan attack on the efforts by our country to move more quickly toward a cleaner energy future has taken a toll.”
Alex Seitz-Wald Recommended
