GOP knocks Clinton for fundraising spree

by Ben Kamisar - 08/20/16 8:52 PM ET

The Republican National Committee (RNC) is needling Hillary Clinton’s “liberal elite summer tour” of fundraising in a new web ad meant to peg her as out of touch.

The short video, shared first with The Hill, highlights Clinton’s upcoming fundraising trip next week that will bring her across the country to stops in Beverly Hills, Hollywood Hills and Los Angeles, as well as Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, Mass., and Greenwich, Conn.

{mosads}Hosts include Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel, as well as basketball legend Magic Johnson and Democratic mega-donor Haim Saban.

In a statement with the video, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus chided Clinton’s fundraising swing as indicative of “who she’s really fighting for,” while questioning her decision not to visit Louisiana in the wake of disastrous flooding there.

“Rather than visit flood-ravaged Louisiana or end her more than 250-day streak without a press conference, she’s taking her private jet from coast to coast raking in piles of campaign cash to fund her status quo campaign,” he said.

“Donald Trump is the candidate of true change in this election, and he is leading a grassroots movement to put an end to business as usual in Washington and make a difference in the lives of all Americans.”

Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, visited Louisiana on Friday. Clinton said this week that she had spoken with Louisiana’s governor and that a visit by her would be a “distraction” to relief efforts.

But while the GOP nominee has ponied up $56 million of his own money for his campaign dating back to the primaries, and though he’s raised far less from hedge funds than Clinton and her allies, he is no stranger to the fundraising circuit himself.

He swung through New York to meet with top donors in late June as he raised money both for the campaign and for the party’s efforts up and down the ballot. Trump’s most recent campaign shake-up suggested the influence of hedge fund billionaire and major GOP donor Robert Mercer, too.

Tags Donald Trump Hillary Clinton