Speed Reads

campaign 2016

Hillary Clinton tells activist she's 'sick' of the Sanders campaign 'lying about me'

After a rally at the State University of New York at Purchase on Thursday, Hillary Clinton told a climate activist questioning donations from the fossil fuel industry that she was tired of Bernie Sanders' campaign "lying about me."

Eva Resnick-Day is affiliated with 350 Action and Greenpeace USA, CNN reports, and Greenpeace later posted a video of the exchange, titling it "Hillary Clinton loses patience with Greenpeace activist over fossil fuel donations." Resnick-Day asked Clinton if she will "reject fossil fuel money," and the Democratic presidential candidate responding by saying, "I do not have, I have money from people who work for fossil fuel companies. I'm so sick, I'm so sick of the Sanders campaign lying about me." 350 Action and Greenpeace activists have asked Clinton about fossil fuel donations at previous events, CNN notes, and Greenpeace has published an article saying Clinton has received more than $300,000 in donations from 57 oil, gas, and coal industry lobbyists.

A spokesman for Sanders said Clinton has "relied heavily on funds from lobbyists working for the oil and gas industry." Clinton's spokesman, Nick Merrill, said the campaign "has not taken a dollar from oil and gas industry PACs or corporations. The simple fact is that the Sanders campaign is misleading voters with their attacks." By the Greenpeace metric, he added, Sanders "has taken more than $50,000 on this campaign from individuals working for oil and gas companies. Assuming they don't believe their own candidate is bought by the fossil fuel industry, they should stop the false attacks and do what they've claimed the campaign is about: debating the issues." Catherine Garcia