Clinton speeches remain a mystery

Nearly 100 appearances netted $21.7 million

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Hillary Clinton told voters in the latest Democratic debate there’s “hardly anything you don’t know about me.”

Just minutes later, she got tangled in a question about a part of her résumé that is an enduring mystery.

In the 18 months before launching her second presidential bid, Clinton gave nearly 100 paid speeches at banks, trade associations, charitable groups and private corporations. The appearances netted her $21.7 million — and voters very little informat ion about what she was telling top corporations as she prepared for her 2016 campaign.

What she said — or didn’t say — to Wall Street banks in particular has become a significant problem for her presidential campaign as she tries to counter the unexpected rise of Democratic rival Bernie Sanders. He’s put her in the awkward position of squaring her financial windfall with a frustrated electorate.

Asked in the debate — and not for the first time — about releasing transcripts of those speeches, she said: “I will look into it. I don’t know the status, but I will certainly look into it.” She added: “My view on this is, look at my record.”

Clinton addressed a broad swath of industries, speaking to supermarket companies in Colorado, clinical pathologists in Illinois and travel agents in California, to name several. Many of the companies and trade organizations that she addressed are lobbying Congress over a variety of interests.

She typically delivered an address, then answered questions from a pre-vetted interviewer. Her standard fee was $225,000, though occasionally it could range up to $400,000.

“That’s what they offered,” Clinton said when asked this week whether her fees were too high.

Other than her fees, which her campaign disclosed in response to media inquiries, details about most of her closed speeches are nearly impossible to find. The Associated Press and other news organizations have asked repeatedly for transcripts, and again on Friday after her promise to review the issue. Last month, she laughed and turned away when a blogger specifically asked for transcripts of her speeches to Goldman Sachs.

“I don’t think voters are interested in the transcripts of her speeches,” Joel Benenson, Clinton’s pollster, told reporters Friday. But it was a voter who asked about her transcripts at a town hall event on CNN on Wednesday.

Although many of her remarks were given to large groups, they were frequently barred to media coverage and few recordings are available online.