Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton wants to turn away from FBI Director James Comey’s report about her “extremely careless” handling of emails while Secretary of State. So she headed to the beach.
Clinton made no mention of the email investigation during a speech in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Instead she attacked presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump in a highly choreographed event held in front of the former Trump Plaza Casino and Hotel.
“Maybe we could get New Jersey’s economy moving again,” Clinton began. “Here in Atlantic City and across America we’ve got to create more good jobs at good wages,” she added.
“As the people of Atlantic City know better than anyone, Donald Trump cannot do the job for American workers,” the former Secretary of State asserted.
“Donald Trump says he is qualified to be president because of his business record….he’s probably hoping nobody will check up… because what he did for his businesses and workers is nothing to brag about. In fact, it’s shameful,” Clinton said.
“We’re standing in front of the old Trump Plaza Casino and Hotel…now it’s abandoned….. [but] his presence remains,” Clinton said.
“Not far from here is the old Trump Marina Hotel and Casino… just down the Boardwalk is the Trump Taj Mahal… it filed for bankruptcy in 2009,” she continued.
“Ask yourself…. Isn’t he supposed to be some kind of amazing businessman? What in the world happened here?” she asked rhetorically.
“His excuse for all this failure is that Atlantic City just went down hill,” she added, but claimed “his businesses were failing long before the rest of the town was struggling.”
“Donald Trump acted so irresponsibly. He calls himself the king of debt, and he earned that title here in Atlantic City.”
Clinton charged that Trump “intentionally ran up huge amounts of debt…. he borrowed at high interest rates… he defaulted… he bankrupted his companies not once, not twice, but four times.”
Clinton then attacked Trump for several ventures: Trump University, where customers “are suing him for fraud, Trump Condos in Baja, California, where “the condos were never built. They [his customers] never got their money big.”
Clinton also attempted to take over Trump’s own claim that FBI Director Comey’s failure to recommend her prosecution is evidence “the system is rigged.”
“He always rigged it so he got paid,” Clinton said of Trump.
“He would rig the economy for Wall Street all over again,” she said later in the speech. Clinton then mentioned Marty Rosenberg, who owns Atlantic Paint Glass and claims Trump owes him money.
“He owed Marty’s company nearly half a million dollars for the work they did under the agreement they made.”
Clinton also claimed Trump owes $3.9 million to a marble company.
Ironically, Clinton, who has been criticized for using her political influence, and that of her husband, to escape the rule of law, criticized Trump for his repeated use of the legal system.
“Donald Trump has been involved in more than 3,500 lawsuits in the past 30 years,” Clinton asserted.
“Donald Trump doesn’t think going bankrupt is a big deal, but it’s devastating if you’re someone who plays by the rules,” she added.
“What he did here in Atlantic City is exactly what he will do if he wins in November.”
“It is the same scam over and over again,” Clinton added.
Clinton then sounded a populist note, borrowing a page from both Trump and her Democratic rival Sen. Bernie Sanders.
“The people he’s trying to convince to vote for him now are the same people he’s been exploiting for years. Working people, small business people,” she said.
Clinton also attacked Trump for permitting some of the products sold by his companies to be built overseas.
“He wants to make America Great Again, maybe he should start by actually making things in America again.”
The former Secretary of State than appealed to her base by attacking Trump on the minimum wage. “He wants to get rid of the federal minimum wage,” she said.
“These bad ideas just keep coming,” she continued.
“Remember what he promised. I’m going to do for the country what I did for my business. I just want you to take all this info and tell everybody you can,” Clinton concluded.