Every presidential candidate has to answer questions about statements made in their past, especially if they’ve held previous office.
During the first Democratic Presidential Debate, the issue of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, also called the TPP, came up.
At that time, Hillary Clinton said as Secretary of State she was reserving judgment about the TPP and “hoped it would be the gold standard.”
PolitiFact Florida heard the claim and put it the Truth-O-Meter. It received a HALF TRUE rating.
PolitiFact writer Joshua Gillin said their research took them back to a 2012 conference in which Clinton said it would be the gold standard, and seemed pretty confident about that. It’s slightly different than the comment made during the debate.
“We're going to give her a little bit of leeway here because the agreement was still being negotiated when she said those remarks in 2012. It's a bit of a change here,” Gillin said.
Because of that, PolitiFact gave the statement a HALF TRUE rating.
SOURCES: Clinton hoped TPP would be gold standard
- PolitiFact, "Hillary Clinton flip-flops on Trans-Pacific Partnership," Oct. 8, 2015
- PBS Newshour, "Hillary Clinton says she does not support Trans-Pacific Partnership," Oct. 7, 2015
- PolitiFact, "Hillary Clinton has 'been very clear' on trade, campaign chair says," June 14, 2015
- PolitiFact, "How Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton differ on the Trans-Pacific Partnership," Sept. 2, 2015
- NBC First Read, "Why Clinton’s flip-flop on trade is so unbelievable," Oct. 8, 2015
- CNN, "45 times Secretary Clinton pushed the trade bill she now opposes," June 15, 2015
- State Department, "Former Secretary Clinton's Remarks," accessed Oct. 8, 2015
- Clinton campaign, "Hillary Clinton Statement on Trans-Pacific Partnership," Oct. 7, 2015
- NPR, "A Timeline Of Hillary Clinton's Evolution On Trade," April 21, 2015
- Email interview, Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill, Oct. 13, 2015