Leaked Clinton emails unveil distance from US mid class, Wall St. ties

Leaked emails of US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton reveal her disconnection from struggles of the middle class – contrary to her campaign rhetoric -- and her behind the scene advocacy for further prosperity of the Wall Street.

According to the leaked remarks made in highly-paid private speeches before executives of top corporate banking institutions between 2013 and 2015, Clinton admitted she is “far removed” from the issues of middle class Americans due to the “fortunes” she and her husband and ex-president Bill Clinton “enjoy” while pledging to do “all she could” for the Wall Street to prosper.

“I'm kind of far removed because the life I've lived and the economic, you know, fortunes that my husband and I now enjoy,” Clinton said in a February 2014 speech before members of Goldman-Black Rock. “I am not taking a position on any policy, but I do think there is a growing sense of anxiety and even anger in the country over the feeling that the game is rigged.”

The remarks were reflected in an email discovered among over 2,000 so-called “Podesta emails,” shedding light into what the presidential hopeful was telling US financial heavyweights such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and others after she left her post as the Obama administration’s secretary of state to prepare for her current presidential campaign.

WikiLeaks published on Friday afternoon a database of 2,060 documents that it said are emails from Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta.

Clinton sees Saudis exporting most "extreme ideology"

In other speeches also leaked in the recent WikiLeaks dump, Clinton has further discussed foreign countries such as Saudi Arabia, saying that the Persian Gulf kingdom “exported more extreme ideology than any other place on earth.”

She also spoke about Britain and the EU, foreseeing “some pretty unpredictable leaders and political parties coming to the forefront in a lot of countries.”

The former US first lady, New York Senator and secretary of state received $675,000 from three speeches she made at Goldman Sachs and reportedly $3 million more for speaking at other major corporate banks and financial firms in the Wall Street. 

Cozy ties with Wall Street players

The unveiling of Clinton’s close affinity to Wall Street is something the Democratic presidential hopeful and her campaign have been trying to downplay since she first announced her bid in April 2015 to run for the White House.

She has also tried to portray herself as a genuine supporter of concerns and interests of the working middle class across the US while purportedly challenging corporate greed and calling for tighter regulations on Wall Street.

Recently leaked excerpts from her private speeches, however, highlight the scale of her “cozy relationships” with Wall Street players.

“When I was a senator from New York, I represented and worked with so many talented principled people who made their living in finance,” Clinton said during a speech at Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd in San Diego in September 2014. 

“But even though I represented them and did all I could to make sure they continued to prosper, I called for closing the carried interest loophole and addressing skyrocketing CEO pay,” she added as quoted in the leaked email communication.

The development coincided with a leaked tape revealing controversial lewd remarks made in 2005 by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, leading to widespread calls for him to quit the race.

Republicans capitalize on Clinton's email controversy

Meanwhile, Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus tried to capitalize on Clinton’s email controversy in a statement.

"With today's WikiLeaks revelations we are finding out who Hillary Clinton really is, and it's not hard to see why she fought so hard to keep her transcripts of speeches to Wall Street banks paying her millions of dollars secret," he said.

However, local press reports indicate that as the backlash against Trump intensifies and more Republican leaders demand his ouster from the race, the reaction to Clinton's Wall Street speeches remains to be gauged in the coming days running up to the second presidential debate on Monday.

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