‘Free Beacon’ Montage: Team Clinton Spins Away Her Flip-Flop on TPP

Team Clinton Spins Away Her Flip-Flop on TPP (The Washington Free Beacon)

Hillary Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon has done his level best this week to explain away his candidate claiming to have not called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) the “gold standard” of trade agreements.

Donald Trump noted at Monday’s debate that Clinton once used the phrase to praise the TPP as secretary of state, but Clinton said that was “not accurate.” However, Clinton did indeed praise the TPP as setting the “gold standard” for trade agreements in 2012. She also called it a “cutting-edge, next generation trade deal” and claimed it would “help create new jobs and opportunities here at home” at other times during her State Department tenure.

Her Democratic primary opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), was strongly against the deal, though, appealing to the left-wing flank of the party. When Clinton eventually announced she opposed the TPP in 2015, PolitiFact rated it a “Full Flop.”