RNC hits ‘high-flying Hillary’

The Republican National Committee (RNC) is hitting Hillary Clinton over her travel expenses, the latest in its campaign to make the potential 2016 contender appear out of touch with voters.

The RNC sent an email on Tuesday titled “High-flying Hillary,” which highlights a report by BuzzFeed on Bill and Hillary Clinton’s election-year travel. The report found that Democratic candidates spent at least $699,000 this year to fly the Clintons on private jets to campaign events, according to financial filings.

{mosads}”The Clintons were already under fire for their lavish campaign travel tabs for weeks,” the email said. It pointed to a Bloomberg report that it cost more than $50,000 to fly the Clintons to Sen. Tom Harkin’s (D-Iowa) Steak Fry in September, when Hillary Clinton made her high-profile return to the first-in-the-nation caucus state.

The RNC also highlighted the controversy over Clinton’s $225,000 speaking fee for an event at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, earlier this year.

“It’s not just political events where Hillary Clinton prefers to ‘travel in style,'” the RNC said. 

Clinton has also come under fire from Democrats for her paid speeches, particularly one to Goldman Sachs, which could reinforce concerns from progressive groups that she is too close to Wall Street. 

Despite Clinton’s high-profile appearances on the campaign trail, Democrats were dealt a blow in the midterm elections, with Republicans gaining their largest House majority in decades and taking control of the Senate.

Republicans sought to link Clinton to the Democratic losses, with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) saying that she had been “soundly rejected” by voters.

The pro-Clinton group Correct the Record released its own report Monday using polling data to argue that Clinton’s campaign visits boosted support for Democratic candidates among women.