Private equity investor and former Bill Clinton advisor Glenn Hutchins conspired with Hillary Clinton campaign manager John Podesta and Center for American Progress president Neera Tanden to ambush GOP nominee Donald Trump during a live television interview, leaked emails reveal.
“I am going on CNBC between 8 and 9 AM on Monday morning and expect, among other topics, to be asked about HRC. My plan is to contrast the Rs whining after the CNBC debate with her masterful performance before the Benghazi panel and pose the question of who looks presidential,” Hutchins wrote to Tanden and Podesta. “As I prepare, any input from you two would be welcome.”
“I think you may get asked about the debate and Paris. I will send you ideas post debate,” Tanden said.
“Turns out now that Trump is calling in between 8 and 8:10. So I am going on at 7:45 in order to be in place for to call,” Hutchins replied. “I am trying to craft one question to ask him in case I get a chance. Any thoughts?”
Podesta suggested ambushing Trump with a question about minimum wage.
“Maybe given his wages are too high which he has walked back to only being about the minimum wage: ask him [s]ince so much low wage work is concentrated in the service sector from fast food workers to housekeepers, why would raising the minimum wage affect US competitiveness?” Podesta wrote.
“Neera: can someone please send me what Trump has said about the minimum wage?” Hutchins wrote back.
Hutchins later sent Tanden and Podesta his question: “You have said that raising the minimum wage would make America uncompetitive. But virtually all minimum wage jobs [see graphic below which I will send to CNBC in advance] are in services industries that don’t export like your hotels and resorts. How do you explain that?”
Podesta replied he liked it.
Indeed, Hutchins did ask his Clinton campaign-approved question on Monday, November 16, 2015 during a lengthy phone interview Trump conducted with CNBC.
“Hello, Donald, we’re going to be talking about the U.S. economy and economic policy later in the show today,” Hutchins began, reciting the question almost word-for-word. “You said that raising the minimum wage would make the U.S. uncompetitive. But almost all minimum wage jobs are in services industries that don’t export like your hotels and resorts. How do you explain that?”
Trump replied in part that U.S. wages were “uncompetitive,” adding that “we have to keep our wages down or I feel strongly we would be more and more non-competitive.”
In large part, Big Finance has bristled at Trump’s candidacy. Hedge funds in particular have lined up behind Clinton’s campaign, as Breitbart News has previously reported:
According to the review of donations by hedge fund owners and employees, Hillary Clinton has been the recipient of up to $122.7 million in political donations this election cycle. Donald Trump, however, has gotten a paltry $19,000 from that same segment of donors. [Emphasis added.]
According to The Wall Street Journal, the amount given to Hillary Clinton by denizens of the hedge fund sector is more than twice what they gave in 2012 and constitutes a whopping 14 percent of all money donated to her so far.
The review of Clinton’s donors shows that her top five donors are owners or employees of investment firms, and seven such firms have contributed up to $48.5 million to her.
The leaked email is part of several batches released by Wikileaks in the weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential election.