The Political Chase

Report: Schedule shows Clinton supporting NAFTA

(updated below)

How will the voters take this little NAFTA nugget, especially in Ohio after Clinton’s "shame on you" tirade? AP reports: "She was also involved in helping her husband win congressional approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement, a deal she now criticizes and says she would try to change."

Here is the entry from Clinton’s schedule on November 10, 1993 (page 244 in pdf).

NAFTA BRIEFING DROP-BY
Room 450, OEOB
CLOSED PRESS
PARTICIPANTS: Approx. 120 expected to attend (See briefing book for further info)
FORMAT:
- Alexis Herman intros HRC for brief remarks

(H/T - Mark Murray at First Read)

Update: Jake Tapper has more info on the meeting.

Two attendees of that closed-door briefing, neither of whom are affiliated with any campaign, describe that event for ABC News. It was a room full of women involved in international trade. David Gergen served as a sort of master of ceremonies as various women members of the Cabinet talked up NAFTA, which had yet to pass Congress.

"It wasn’t a drop-by it was organized around her participation," said one attendee. "Her remarks were totally pro-NAFTA and what a good thing it would be for the economy. There was no equivocation for her support for NAFTA at the time. Folks were pleased that she came by. If this is a still a question about what Hillary’s position when she was First Lady, she was totally supportive of NAFTA.

That first attendee recalls that the First Lady’s office in the East Wing put together "the invitation list, who was invited authorizations and all that stuff."