'She needs to be comfortable that they’ve made a lot of money,' McCaskill says. | AP Photos McCaskill to Clinton: Chill on money

Sen. Claire McCaskill is ready for Hillary Clinton to stop being defensive about her money.

“She needs to be comfortable that they’ve made a lot of money,” McCaskill said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Tuesday. “It’s very American, making a lot of money. Many of our modern-day presidents have made a lot of money, so I don’t think she needs to be defensive about that.”


McCaskill’s comment comes after a series of gaffes by Clinton about her personal wealth. Asked to defend her speaking fees of more than $200,000 a pop, the former secretary of state told ABC News’ Diane Sawyer that she and her husband were “dead broke” when they left the White House. On Sunday, Clinton told The Guardian that she and her husband pay full income taxes unlike “a lot of people who are truly well off.”

“I think she needs to begin to emphasize, obviously, what everyone knows, and that is her policies are all about the middle class,” McCaskill said. “Her policies are about enabling families to have opportunities in America where they can, in fact, make a lot of money and live their dreams.”

The Missouri senator endorsed the former secretary of state for president back in June 2013, saying, “It’s important we start early.” But even McCaskill conceded that Clinton’s early dominance as a 2016 potential candidate has its pros and cons.

“The good news is that she is the dominant candidate, everyone will coalesce around her candidacy,” McCaskill said. “The bad news is that makes her the piñata that everyone loves to hit, and that’s what’s going on right now.”