Questions About Clinton Campaign’s Transparency Ramp Up After a Weekend of Closed Fundraisers

Hillary Clinton just wrapped up a very busy weekend attending fundraisers around the East Coast, but little is known about what she said to the wealthy donors who entertained her. Throughout her campaign, the Democratic presidential nominee has been plagued with allegations that she lacks transparency, yet Clinton continues to raise money at private events that are closed to journalists. Lisa Lerer of The Associated Press reports on Clinton’s “lucrative weekend,” writing:

She brunched with wealthy backers at a seaside estate in Nantucket, snacking on shrimp dumplings and crab cakes. A few hours later, she and her husband dined with an intimate party of 30 at a secluded Martha’s Vineyard estate. And on Sunday afternoon, she joined the singer Cher at a “LGBT summer celebration” on the far reaches of Cape Cod.

By Sunday evening, Clinton had spoken to more than 2,200 campaign donors. But what she told the crowds remains a mystery.

Clinton has refused to open her fundraisers to journalists, reversing nearly a decade of greater transparency in presidential campaigns and leaving the public guessing at what she’s saying to some of her most powerful supporters.

Lerer notes that this is a different approach from that of Clinton’s predecessor. When Barack Obama was campaigning for president in 2008, for example, he “allowed reporters traveling with him into the backyards and homes of wealthy donors to witness some of his remarks.”

Clinton’s rival, Donald Trump, holds “far fewer fundraisers,” which are kept “entirely away from the media, with no details provided,” Lerer says. Trump, however, has held “several news conferences,” while Clinton hasn’t held one in more than 260 days.

Many journalists are going to extremes to report on Clinton’s fundraisers, Lerer notes:

Reporters covering these events wait outside, in vans, parking lots and vacant guesthouses — even at homes they’ve entered with Obama at previous events. In Provincetown on Sunday, five reporters crowded into the corner of a parking lot as they tried to catch Clinton’s speech to about 1,000 supporters. …

During a Saturday fundraiser at a stately Martha’s Vineyard estate, faint cheers could be heard as Clinton addressed 700 donors on a green lawn overlooking the water. Staffers instructed drivers to roll up the windows of vans where reporters waited before being ushered into a nearby guesthouse.

What a candidate tells rich donors has long been a subject of speculation in American politics, partly because the message can be different than what they offer voters.

Meanwhile, concerns are growing about a potential conflict of interest between the Clinton Foundation and the government during Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state. And on Monday, it was announced that an additional 14,900 documents from Clinton’s private email server would be released by the State Department before the November election.

—Posted by Emma Niles