CRANFORD, NJ – Former President Bill Clinton fought back against Republicans' “relentless personal attacks” against his wife and likely Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton while reassuring supporters there is “nothing there” during a campaign stop here Wednesday.
“Now I know they're being mean to her now, but that's their M.O. Keep in mind, the theory of the national Republican Party is that government would mess up a two-car parade,” Clinton said.
“It threatens their whole argument if you got somebody like Hillary who's actually done a lot of things to help people. So if you got somebody who's done a lot of things to help people, you have to find some way to get people to stop thinking about that, and what they find works best is relentless personal attacks,” he added.
Clinton made the point that even if these attacks are proven false, they can still manage to cause damage. “Even if you disprove every single one of them, it winds up hurting you,” he continued.
Clinton then raised his finger, deepened his voice, and looked straight at the crowd. “There is nothing there,” he stated.
He did not mention any of the attacks specifically, but both Hillary Clinton and the former president himself have been targets of personal attacks and even conspiracy theories from presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump. The real estate mogul has said the circumstances surrounding a Clinton aide’s suicide in the 1990s were “fishy” and accused Bill Clinton of rape.
At a stop in the Garden State later in the day, Bill Clinton defended the former secretary of state after a government audit released last week found she violated federal records rules by using a private email server.
“She said, you know, it's better to use the official [email address] and now it's the rule but it wasn't until it was,” Bill Clinton said. “Even Secretary Kerry used his personal email, so I think, you know I think surely they'll wrap it up pretty soon.”
New Jersey is one of five states holding Democratic nominating contests next week, with the biggest prize coming in California. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll released Wednesday found Hillary Clinton clinging to a two-point lead in the Golden State.
“[Sanders has] been out there for three weeks solid and we've been campaigning in all the other states so we'll see,” Bill Clinton said. “We're going to go out there the last 3 days and I think she'll do fine.”
