Hillary Clinton gave a bizarre video shout-out to ‘activist b***hes supporting b***hes’ Friday night
Hillary Clinton gave a bizarre video shout-out to ‘activist b***hes supporting b***hes’ Friday night, just hours after responding to accusations that she protected a campaign adviser’s job after he was accused of sexual harassment.
The former Secretary of State made the comments in a video posted to Twitter Friday by Huffington Post commentator Alex Mohajer.
‘Hey everyone, I just wanted to say thanks,’ she says in the video, which is zoomed in on her face.
‘Thank you for your feminism, for your activism, and all I can hope if you keep up the really important good work.’
Then off screen someone can be heard saying ‘activist b***hes supporting b***hes,’ to as Hillary gives a hearty laugh.
She then repeats it, chuckling and saying: ‘And let me just say, this is directed to the activist b***hes supporting b***hes, so let’s go.’
The unusual video was posted just hours after The New York Times reported that Clinton kept top adviser Burns Strider from being fired after he was accused of sexually harassing a 30-year-old subordinate during the 2008 election
Clinton tweeted Friday evening that she was ‘dismayed’ when the allegations came to light in 2008, and that the woman was ‘heard’ and ‘had her concerns taken seriously’
Burns Strider, then 42 and married, was accused of sexually harassing his subordinate who was also on the Clinton campaign, it was revealed. Strider was Clinton’s ‘Director of Faith-Based Outreach’ and frequently appeared on religious-themed broadcasts to promote her candidacy
It’s not clear exactly when or where the video was taken – but it appears to have been shot just before or after Friday night’s MusiCares Person of the Year Awards at Radio City Music Hall, which honored Fleetwood Mac.
Their 1977 song ‘Don’t Stop’ helped power Bill Clinton into the White House in 1992 – so on Friday he presented the band with statuettes as the 2018 MusicCares honorees, making them the first band to win the annual award given to a musician for creative achievements and charitable work.
The unusual video was posted just hours after The New York Times reported that Clinton kept top adviser Burns Strider from being fired after he was accused of sexually harassing a 30-year-old subordinate during the 2008 election.
Hillary responded to these claims Friday night, tweeting that she was ‘dismayed’ at the time of the allegations, and that the woman was ‘heard’ and ‘had her concerns taken seriously.’
‘A story appeared today about something that happened in 2008. I was dismayed when it occurred, but was heartened the young woman came forward, was heard, and had her concerns taken seriously and addressed,’ Hillary wrote.
In a follow-up tweet she added: ‘I called her today to tell her how proud I am of her and to make sure she knows what all women should: we deserve to be heard.’
She didn’t directly address how the victim ‘was heard,’ and didn’t explain why she reassigned the woman and protected the adviser.
It’s not clear exactly when or where the video was taken – but it appears to have been shot just before or after Friday night’s MusiCares Person of the Year Awards at Radio City Music Hall, which honored Fleetwood Mac. Clinton is pictured at the award show Friday
Their 1977 song ‘Don’t Stop’ helped power Bill Clinton into the White House in 1992 – so on Friday he presented the band with statuettes as the 2018 MusicCares honorees, making them the first band to win the annual award given to a musician for creative achievements and charitable work
In 2008, Strider, then 42 and married, was Clinton’s ‘Director of Faith-Based Outreach’ and frequently appeared on religious-themed broadcasts to promote her candidacy.
And after the allegations came forward, his accuser was moved to a new position while Clinton allegedly ignored her then-campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle’s advice to fire him.
Instead Strider was ordered to undergo counseling and docked ‘several weeks of pay,’ according to the Times, but kept his job.
Strider boasts to this day about his close relationship with the former secretary of state, continuing to call her ‘boss’, sharing lunches, going to a birthday party and posting a letter from her on Instagram.
He and his son Peter attended Clinton’s birthday party in October 2017.
‘Celebrating a birthday, 2day. My youngest, Pete, joins @HillaryClinton, others & me,’ he wrote in a Twitter caption. ‘Boss & Pete are all chummy.’
Strider’s accuser in 2008 shared an office with him. She complained about unsolicited and inappropriate shoulder-rubbing, kisses on the forehead and suggestive emails.
The Times reported that at least one of those messages came at night, outside of normal working hours.
The woman signed a nondisclosure agreement before working for the Clinton campaign, and hasn’t spoken publicly about the episode.
But she took her concerns to Solis Doyle, who urged Clinton to fire Strider.
She kept him on her staff instead.
Strider (left) is pictured with Bill and Hillary Clinton and two other people in this undated Instagram photo
Burns Strider was Hillary Clinton’s ‘faith-based’ outreach director when she ran for president in 2008; after a 30-year-old female subordinate accused him of sexual harassment, Clinton refused to fire him and instead reassigned the woman
Strider posted this Instagram picture of him and Clinton having lunch in March 2017, writing: ‘Thank you, Madam Secretary (for lunch and catching up, too). B.’
Patty Solis Doyle was Clinton’s campaign manager during the Strider saga and recommended that he should be let go – but Clinton overruled her
Strider, known as the Democratic Party’s ‘faith guru,’ co-founded the American Values Network, a liberal lobbying group that organizes and amplifies Christian progressives.
As Clinton geared up for her 2016 White House run, he was tapped to run Correct The Record, a pro-Clinton advocacy group created by Media Matters For America founder and Clinton ally David Brock.
There, too, Strider couldn’t find his stride. Correct The Record fired him after five months following allegations that he harassed another young woman, the Times reported Friday.
Strider also worked as a senior adviser to Rep. Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat who is currently the House Minority Leader, from 2003 to 2006.
His career in Democratic politics before that also included a stint as an adviser to then-Senator Al Gore.
Strider, now 52, continues to trade on his relationship with Clinton; he’s pictured on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, with an unidentified woman
Insta-boast: After the 2016 campaign Clinton thanked Strider in a personalized signed letter – which he posted on his social media account
A Clinton spokesman sent the Times a statement, through a law firm.
‘To ensure a safe working environment, the campaign had a process to address complaints of misconduct or harassment. When matters arose, they were reviewed in accordance with these policies, and appropriate action was taken. This complaint was no exception,’ the statement said.
Clinton has been seen as one of many prominent catalysts for the #MeToo movement, an organic groundswell of women who have come forward in the past year to accuse powerful men of secually harassing and abusing them.
One by one, drip by drip, dozens of accused sexual predators in Hollywood, journalism, the restaurant industry and even the U.S. Senate have seen their high-profile careers end.
The first giant domino to fall, former film mogul Harvey Weinstein, donated and bundled $1.4 million to Clinton’s 2016 campaign.
When Bill Clinton faced impeachment nearly two decades ago, Weinstein donated $10,000 to his legal defense fund.
Clinton has been close for decades with Harvey Weinstein, whose career came to a crashing halt at the top of the#MeToo movement’s spear
Hillary Clinton condemned Weinstein in 2017, saying she was ‘shocked and appalled by the allegations.’
But the actress Lena Dunham contended weeks later that in 2008 she warned Clinton’s staff that the Democratic candidate should stay away from him.
‘I just want you to know that Harvey’s a rapist and this is going to come out at some point,’ Dunham said she told the Clinton campaign.
Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill insisted at the time that the ‘Girls’ star was mis-remembering things.
‘We were shocked when we learned what he’d done. It’s despicable behavior, and the women that have come forward have shown enormous courage,’ he said.
‘As to claims about a warning, that’s something staff wouldn’t forget.’
The Clinton Foundation, Bill and Hillary’s family philanthropy, said in October that it would not return money Weinstein has donated in the past.
The foundation’s website puts those contribution in a category between $100,000 and $250,000.
Clinton pledged later to give the money to charity – as part of the 10 per cent of her income that she already contributes each year.