Rep. Joaquin Castro Claims Double Standard for Hillary Wall St. Speeches

‘The Republicans have not been asked for any of that ... no one else was asked for it’

KORNACKI: “...the polls on Tuesday, the biggest single prize on the board is Texas. And that’s where Congressman Joaquin Castro is from. He’s a supporter of Hillary Clinton. He joins me now from the capitol in — United States capitol, not the capitol in Austin. You’re in the U.S. capitol.”
CASTRO: “D.C.”
KORNACKI: “Let me ask you about that issue of the paid speeches. Bernie Sanders there bringing up, calling on Hillary Clinton to release the transcripts. And she’s been saying she’s not going to do that right now. Why is it an unreasonable thing to ask of a presidential candidate who has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars to give speeches to Wall Street firms, why is it unreasonable to ask what she said?”
CASTRO: “Well, I think, Steve, the point that she’s making is that if she’s going to be asked to do that, then the other candidates who are running for president should also be required and asked to do that. And they haven’t been. And if it’s speeches to Wall Street —“ [crosstalk]
KORNACKI: “But congressman, I —“
CASTRO: “Let me just make this point. It should also be speeches to donors and other groups.”
KORNACKI: “Hand on a second. I want to clarify — congressman, I want to clarify, her one opponent right now is Bernie Sanders. And Bernie Sanders says, ‘Look, I’ve released all my transcripts to my speeches on Wall Street because I didn’t give any.’ She only has one opponent right now. Her opponent didn’t give the speeches. She’s the only one on the Democratic side who did. Why is it unreasonable for Democrats to say we want to see those speeches?”
CASTRO: “Sure, Steve, but the Republicans have not been asked for any of that. Donald Trump hasn’t been asked for it. Jeb Bush wasn’t asked for it. No one else was asked for it. And this is indicative of what has happened to Hillary Clinton throughout her career. There has been a  double standard, one for her and one for everybody else.”
KORNACKI: “But again, you’re talking about Republican candidates — she’s not currently running against. She has a Democratic opponent. Her only opponent right now is saying, ‘Release the transcripts. I never gave speeches. She gave the speeches on Wall Street. She took hundreds of thousands of dollars.’ Why should it apply to the Republican party when she’s only running right now on the Democratic side?”
CASTRO: “Because they’re all running for president. And also, because she has described what she spoke about. A few things — first, it’s not clear that there are transcripts from those speeches. We don’t know, well, we may know how many there are, but I doubt that everybody has a transcript out there. She’s also been forthright about what she discussed.”

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