Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will talk about her loss in the 2016 presidential election and the political climate in the U.S. a year later as she receives the 2017 Democratic Woman of the Year Award. Hillary Clinton will accept the 2017 Democratic Woman of the Year Award around 4:30 p.m. ET. Watch live in the player above.
The award, given by the Woman’s National Democratic Club, is “in recognition of her extraordinary contributions to American politics and international affairs, as well as the inspiration she has provided to women and girls around the world.”
The award comes weeks after Clinton released her latest book, “What Happened,” which detailed her 2016 campaign and her loss to President Donald Trump. Read more >>>>
Donna Brazile and Liz Warren can go wash Bernie's socks!
Hillary Clinton, the former Democratic presidential nominee, during a stop on her book tour in Chicago this week. Kamil Krzaczynski/Reuters
WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton received a Democratic Woman of the Year Award — who else would it be? — at the Women’s National Democratic Club on Thursday, and the first tears were shed about three minutes after she took the stage.
In a room full of purple suffragist sashes and elected officials, Nuchhi Currier, the president of the organization, choked up when she said the outcome of the election — 358 days ago — was “very different from what had been anticipated.”
SNIP
Mrs. Clinton’s appearance signaled the continuation of the Democratic mourning process that has persisted since the election, even as drama continues to mark her campaign. On Thursday, Politico published a first-person article by Donna Brazile, the former chair of the Democratic National Committee, who wrote that the Clinton campaign in 2016 controlled the committee and rigged the nomination process. Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, made the same accusation on CNN on Thursday.
Ms. Brazile also wrote that the Clinton campaign had used a joint fund-raising agreement that would grant it control over strategy in exchange for raising funds. Ms. Brazile characterized the agreement as a “cancer” for the Democratic Party.
Through a spokeswoman, officials for the party disagreed.
“Joint fund-raising committees were created between the DNC and both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in attempt to raise the general election funds needed to win in 2016,” Xochitl Hinojosa, the communications director for the committee, wrote in an email on Thursday. “Clinton was the only candidate who raised money for the party through her joint fund-raising committee with the DNC, which would benefit any candidate coming out of the presidential primary process.”
Yesterday in Cincinnati, Hillary sat down with Charlie Rose. A portion
of the interview aired this morning on CBS. The full interview aired on
PBS this afternoon. It may repeat at 11 EDT tonight.
Charlie tried to cajole her into giving him a running-mate scoop. She stood firm.
Charlie tried also to wear her down on the "unpopular" meme, and she
laughed charmingly, told him she got a lot of votes, thinks she's pretty
popular, and intends to be more popular. We agree, Hillary!
SANDERS: You once had a pension. Those jobs, in many cases, are now gone. They’re off.
True,
but a lot of us have 401Ks and 403Bs in place of the pensions, making
all of us a little bit Wall St. as it were. The argument should be
against the GOP privatizing Social Security similarly. Don't demonize
where I now everything I worked for. I need Wall St. to be healthy, but
fair, clean, and legit.
WOODRUFF: Welcome back to the Democratic presidential debate. Before we
return to our questions, we have a follow-up question from our Facebook group.
And it is to Senator Sanders.
Senator, it comes from Bill Corfield. He is a 55-year-old musician from Troy,
Ohio. And he asks: “Are there any areas of government you would like to
reduce?”
SANDERS: Hey, I’m in the United States Senate, and anyone who doesn’t think
that there is an enormous amount of waste and inefficiency and bureaucracy
throughout government would be very, very mistaken.
I believe in government, but I believe in efficient government, not wasteful
government.
IFILL: How about you, Senator Clinton — Secretary Clinton?
CLINTON: Absolutely. And, you know, there are a number of programs that I
think are duplicative and redundant and not producing the results that people
deserve. There are a lot of training programs and education programs that I think
can be streamlined and put into a much better format so that if we do continue
them they can be more useful, in public schools, community colleges, and
colleges and universities.
I would like to take a hard look at every part of the federal government and really
do the kind of analysis that would rebuild some confidence in people that we’re
taking a hard look about what we have, you know, and what we don’t need
anymore. And that’s what I intend to do.
SANDERS: If I could just answer that, we have also got to take a look at the
waste and inefficiencies in the Department of Defense, which is the one major
agency of government that has not been able to be audited. And I have the
feeling you’re going to find a lot of cost overruns there and a lot of waste and
duplicative activities.
Format
did not permit Hillary to respond further. That was the cut-off.
Hillary was not allowed another word here. But I would point out that
Hillary initiated the first-ever such analytical process to streamline
the State Department, the QDDR,
as Secretary of State, and certainly will apply that model to all
government agencies as POTUS. She has already done this and knows how! I
wish she could have talked about that.
CLINTON: But I want to — I want to follow up on something having
to do with leadership, because, you know, today Senator Sanders said that
President Obama failed the presidential leadership test. And this is not the first
time that he has criticized President Obama. In the past he has called him weak.
He has called him a disappointment.
He wrote a forward for a book that basically argued voters should have buyers’
remorse when it comes to President Obama’s leadership and legacy.
And I just couldn’t agree — disagree more with those kinds of comments. You
know, from my perspective, maybe because I understand what President Obama
inherited, not only the worst financial crisis but the antipathy of the Republicans
in Congress, I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves for being a president...
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: ... who got us out of that...
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: ... put us on firm ground, and has sent us into the future. And it is a —
the kind of criticism that we’ve heard from Senator Sanders about our president I
expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the
Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama.
SANDERS: That is...
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: Madam Secretary, that is a low blow.
(As if never in this campaign cycle has he ever delivered a low blow.)
(Hillary gives him Carrie-at-the-Prom face via Sissy Spacek.)
I have worked with President Obama for the last seven years.
Note to Senator Sanders: That is very unstable territory.
When President Obama came into office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, 800,000
jobs a month.
We had a $1.4 trillion
deficit. And the world’s financial system is on the verge of collapse.
As a result of his efforts and the efforts of Joe Biden against unprecedented, I
was there in the Senate, unprecedented Republican obstructionism, we have
made enormous progress.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: But you know what? Last I heard we lived in a democratic society.
Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president,
including a president who has done such an extraordinary job.
So I have voiced criticisms. You’re right. Maybe you haven’t. I have. But I think to
suggest that I have voiced criticism, this blurb that you talk about, you know what
the blurb said? The blurb said that the next president of the United States has got
to be aggressive in bringing people into the political process.
That’s what I said. That is what I believe.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: President Obama and I are friends.
As you know, he came to
Vermont to campaign for me when he was a senator. I have worked for his re-
election. His first election and his re-election.
But I think it is really unfair to suggest that I have not been supportive of the
president. I have been a strong ally with him on virtually every issue. Do senators
have the right to disagree with the president? Have you ever disagreed with a
president? I suspect you may have.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: You know, Senator, what I am concerned about, is not disagreement
on issues, saying that this is what I would rather do, I don’t agree with the
president on that, calling the president weak, calling him a disappointment,
calling several times that he should have a primary opponent when he ran for re-
election in 2012, you know, I think that goes further than saying we have our
disagreements.
As a senator, yes, I was a senator. I understand we can disagree on the path
forward. But those kinds of personal assessments and charges are ones that I
find particularly troubling.
IFILL: Senator, if you would like respond to — you may respond to that but it is
time for closing statements and you can use your time for closing statements to
dpolicies he carried o that.
SANDERS: Well, one of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate.
No
he was not - in 2008, when Obama was a senator. That was when HIllary
ran against Obama as a fellow senator. The election when Bernie planned
to primary President Obama was in 2012, when he was, you know,
president.
SANDERS: Where the secretary and I have a very profound difference, in the
last debate — and I believe in her book — very good book, by the way — in her
book and in this last debate, she talked about getting the approval or the support
or the mentoring of Henry Kissinger. Now, I find it rather amazing, because I
happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive
secretaries of state in the modern history of this country.
(APPLAUSE)
I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from
Henry Kissinger. And in fact, Kissinger’s actions in Cambodia, when the United
States bombed that country, overthrew Prince Sihanouk, created the instability
for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to come in, who then butchered some 3 million
innocent people, one of the worst genocides in the history of the world. So count
me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger.
(APPLAUSE)
IFILL: Secretary Clinton? CLINTON: Well, I know journalists have asked who
you do listen to on foreign policy, and we have yet to know who that is.
SANDERS: Well, it ain’t Henry Kissinger. That’s for sure.
CLINTON: That’s fine. That’s fine.
(LAUGHTER)
You know, I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas.
I think it is fair to say, whatever the complaints that you want to make about him
are, that with respect to China, one of the most challenging relationships we
have, his opening up China and his ongoing relationships with the leaders of
China is an incredibly useful relationship for the United States of America.
(APPLAUSE)
So if we want to pick and choose — and I certainly do — people I listen to, people
I don’t listen to, people I listen to for certain areas, then I think we have to be fair
and look at the entire world, because it’s a big, complicated world out there.
By the way, Bernie, do not insult us. We do know who
Mossadegh was. I wonder how many of your millennials know who Henry Kissinger is. I know Hillary's millennials do. Many of us
remember his service and have issues with some policies he carried out under Nixon,
but here's a reminder: He was secretary of state, not secretary of
defense. Blaming Kissinger for bombings in Cambodia is like blaming
Hillary for bombings - anywhere - while she was secretary of state - a
diplomatic post.
Henry
Kissinger, left, former U.S. Secretary of State, hands over the Freedom
Award " in recognition of their fight for democracy and liberty" for
the American People to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, right,
during the Freedom Awards Ceremony of the Atlantic Council in Berlin,
Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Gero Breloer)
First stop: Broward County Community College in Davie, FL. Hillary
spoke on a broad range of issues from college debt to universal pre-K to
gun laws and Syria.
Insider watching from an undisclosed, secluded location.
Also in LV, painters endorsed Hillary.
An ice cream stop and a rally
The United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and grassroots event in San Antonio
A town hall in Keene NH and an interview with Jake Tapper on CNN's The Lead
A"Meet and Greet" in Nashua
The Alabama Democratic Conference in Hoover
The
long-anticipated and very long day on Capitol Hill with the Select
Committee on Benghazi. Eleven hours and she was still smiling and
unbowed on exit.
