Clinton cites ‘consequences’ of fake news
WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton, on Capitol Hill for the first time since she lost the presidential election, feted departing Democratic Senate Leader Harry Reid while blasting fake news sites and urging lawmakers to fight for Obamacare and other Democratic priorities.
“This is not exactly the speech at the Capitol I hoped to be giving after the election,” Clinton joked. She was one of several high-profile speakers at a Senate portrait unveiling for Reid on his last day on Capitol Hill yesterday.
The former secretary of state then took a serious tone, urging both election officials and private-sector leaders to fight back against “the epidemic of malicious fake news and false propaganda that flooded social media this past year.”
“It’s clear that so-called fake news can have real-world consequences,” Clinton said, in apparent references to both the election and the recent incident where a North Carolina man fired shots in a Washington, D.C., pizzeria based on false reports of a Clinton-backed child trafficking ring being based there.
“This isn’t about politics or partisanship,” Clinton said. “Lives are at risk — lives of ordinary people just trying to go about their days and do their jobs and contribute to their communities.”
Clinton highlighted Reid’s accomplishments, but called the fight ahead for Democrats “urgent.”
“Harry’s legacy is embodied in landmark legislation that made life better for American families, like the Affordable Care Act, which wouldn’t have passed without his leadership and now provides health coverage to more than 22 million people,” Clinton said.
“Millions of people can stay on their parents’ health plans because Harry Reid fought for it,” she said. “And that’s not all — millions of seniors rely on Social Security today because Harry led the fight to stop it from being privatized.”