The former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee came out swinging Tuesday night in defense of former President Barack Obama’s plan to accept $400,000 for a speech to Wall Street in September, urging critics such as Sen. Bernie Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren to mind their own business.
Warren, a possible presidential candidate in 2020, said she was “troubled” by Obama’s decision, and Sanders, a former Democratic presidential candidate, told CNN it was “not a good idea” and “distasteful.”
After being shown both criticisms during an interview on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz fired back that “it is none of anyone’s business what someone who is a member of the private sector decides to accept in terms of compensation.”
“With all due respect to anyone who chooses to comment publicly on what Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, or anyone earns as a member of the private sector,” she said, “it’s just, like, MYOB — it’s none of your business.”
Wasserman Schultz said that Obama and Clinton, who also faced criticism for paid speeches to Wall Street, both have “pristine” public records. “They both fought back against the big banks, and their practices, and I have every confidence in the service they both provided.”
The congresswoman also trolled President Donald Trump, who touted a government funding bill that is expected to be voted on later this week, saying “this is what winning looks like.”
Wasserman Schultz agreed with the comment, but clarified that “this is what winning looks like — for Democrats,” pointing out that the bill does not include funding to build Trump’s border wall, does not provide money for additional detention officers and does not cut funding for Planned Parenthood, among other issues.
“They are desperately clinging and grasping at straws here to try to define for their members and their supporters, that this is somehow a win for them,” she said. “But they absolutely didn’t want this budget to look like it does.”