Video has emerged showing Hillary Clinton telling attendees at a fundraising event in New York on Thursday that she appreciated being able to take “a little breather from Iowa.”
“I just can’t tell you how it feels to be in a room with so many people I do know and have worked with and admired and appreciate to be here in Westchester County having a chance to take a little breather from Iowa,” Clinton told an audience gathered at the headquarters of RPW Group, a large real estate development company based in White Plains.
The cost to attend the breakfast fundraiser — which was closed to the press — ranged from $250 to the maximum $2,700 campaign donation limit.
Clinton’s visit to RPW Group was part of a short East Coast fundraising tour sandwiched between events in Iowa, where caucuses will be held on Monday. Clinton’s top presidential competitor, Vermont Sen. [crscore]Bernie Sanders[/crscore], criticized the former secretary of state for attending the fundraisers, and, he said, neglecting Iowa voters.
Bernie Sanders: speaking tonight in Mason City, Iowa. Hillary Clinton: at investment firm fundraiser in Philadelphia.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) January 27, 2016
In addition to the breakfast in White Plains, Clinton attended a fundraiser in Philadelphia on Wednesday hosted by the financial firm Franklin Square Capital Partners. The cost to attend that function, where musician Jon Bon Jovi played, ranged from $1,000 to $2,700. Sanders has assailed Clinton for the political donations and speaking fees she’s reaped from financial firms.
Clinton downplayed attending the fundraisers by highlighting a meeting she had Wednesday with 50 black clergy at the historic Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia.
“Look, I was in Iowa yesterday, all week,” Clinton told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in an interview Thursday. “I’m back In Iowa right now. I’ll be in Iowa through the caucus. I went to Philadelphia for two things: Some of my supporters, including my good friend Jon Bon Jovi, had a fundraiser for me, and I had a long-standing meeting scheduled with 50 African American faith leaders from across our nation.”
“It was a wonderful conversation,” she said, detailing the discussions with the clergy members while not elaborating on what she said at the fundraisers.
The White Plains event was recorded on the video streaming site Periscope. The Republican opposition group America Rising published the video on YouTube.
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