Warren Bashes Wells, Equifax In Iowa Speeches

Senator Elizabeth Warren didn’t hold back during her first trip to Iowa, going after Washington for being “corrupt” and “beholden to giant corporations.” In addition, Warren criticized the idea that wealthy potential presidential candidates might use their personal fortunes to finance their campaigns.

“Campaigns should not be for sale,” she said, according to Bloomberg. “As Democrats in a Democratic primary, we ought to be building grassroots support. We ought to be building a movement [and] not having billionaires buy these campaigns, whether we’re talking about super PACs or self-funders.”

More than two dozen Democrats are reportedly thinking about bids for the party’s 2020 nomination. So far, though, Warren is the only high-profile Democrat to launch a presidential exploratory committee. She has hired Emily Parcell, who worked as then-Senator Barack Obama’s Iowa political director for the 2008 caucus and as a senior advisor to Clinton in the state in 2016, as well as Brendan Summers, who was the 2016 Iowa and national caucus director for Bernie Sanders during his presidential campaign.

Warren, who created the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (BCFP) and describes herself as “a banking wonk,” said that the financial system is still too powerful and in need of “big structural changes.” She specifically called out Wells Fargo and Equifax for breaching the public’s trust, as both companies have been involved in recent scandals that impacted American consumers.

“We have taken meaningful steps to enhance our technology and security programs, and have worked in good faith with legislators to be transparent, cooperative and shed light on our learnings from the incident,” said Equifax Spokesman Jacob Hawkins.

Wells Fargo, in an emailed statement, said it has been “working diligently over the past two years to address and resolve the problems of the past, take care of our customers promptly and fairly, and transparently describe our progress to all of our stakeholders.”