NOBODY recognized Clinton at famous Chipotle stop and she had to do a lap of a gas station to find anyone to shake her hand
- Clinton kicked off her presidential campaign with a road trip to Iowa inside her ‘Scooby van’
- When she stopped at Chipotle for lunch, no one recognized her as she ordered a burrito bowl with chicken and black beans
- Blow-by-blow of Clinton’s anonymous movements and even her side dishes are revealed in a hack of campaign chair John Podesta’s emails
- Fueled up at a BP station in Joliet, ‘got some snacks’, ‘looked at all the big rigs’ at a Pennsylvania truck stop but aide reported ‘no interactions’
- The internationally famous former secretary of state traveled with two aides – one of them Huma Abedin and a Secret Service agent
- She previously has traveled in private jets, a government plane, and a campaign plane
- Russian intelligence is believed to be behind the hack that resulted in the disclosure Democratic candidate’s lunch menu and snack run
By Geoff Earle
Hillary Clinton’s movements abroad have been closely catalogued in diplomatic cables – and so too was her lonely, unrecognized jaunt inside a Chipotle in Maumee, Ohio, leaked emails confirm.
Clinton’s aides kept tabs on the former secretary of state as she made her way west toward Iowa incognito early in the presidential campaign.
The reports strip some of the glamour off the journey to try to become the world’s most powerful person. By their own records, Clinton didn’t draw anyone’s attention when she stepped up to the counter to order, wearing shades.
In the Chipotle stop, ‘no one noticed who she was,’ reported press secretary Nick Merrill
‘Just stopped for lunch in Maumee, OH, at the Chipotle in a strip mall next to a Meijer supermarket, an LA Fitness, and a train depot, Merrill wrote on April 13th around lunchtime.
‘HRC went through the line and ordered a burrito bowl with chicken and black beans, gauc, and an iced tea. No one noticed that she was there, which made for an awkward encounter between me and the manager as I was taking aerial shots of HRC ordering,’ Merrill said.
‘I think he thought I was from the health department,’ he added.
Although it was previously known Clinton ordered a chicken burrito bowl, her side dishes have not been confirmed until now.
‘We sat and ate, chatted a little, and left. No photos with people, no interactions of note. But for your viewing pleasure, please see attached,’ he wrote, though the image wasn’t included in the dump, which was posted on Wikileaks as part of a massive dump of Podesta’s emails.
Clinton didn’t cause much more of a stir when she made a snack run at a gas station.
Day Two of the journey took Clinton from near Pittsburgh across I-80 through Ohio
Just fueled up at BP in Joliet, IL. We got a little air, and then went inside to get some snacks,’ Merrill wrote to Teddy Goff at Precision Strategies.
‘On the way back to the van HRC met a middle aged Republican man who asked her not to be too liberal if she won. She said she hoped he’d support her > and he said ok if she didn’t go too liberal on him.’
Clinton’s stop at a Pennsylvania truck stop didn’t cause much more of a stir.
‘Just stopped for gas at the Pilot Travel Center truck stop off I-80 near Porter, PA. She did a lap around the place and looked at all the big rigs before people started to catch on back in the front lot near the pumps,’ Merrill wrote.
‘She shook some hands with a few families and posed for photos in front of a large yellow and red ‘Travel Center.’ Huma may be able to add more about who they were.,’ he wrote, in reference to aide Huma Abedin. ‘Back on the highway now about 2 hours and 15 minutes from Pittsburgh.’
The trip began the enthusiasm that accompanies any new campaign, and are time stamped just weeks after it was revealed Clinton kept a private email server.
Updates went to Clinton staff, which is likely how it got into John Podesta’s email, though the campaign has not confirmed the authenticity of the hacked emails.
‘Greetings from I-80 West passing through Great Meadows, NJ, where HRC just tweeted to the world that she’s running for President,’ wrote Merrill. ‘I’m going to use this chain to update people from the road, so watch this space for updates.’
Clinton’s stealth Chipotle run attracted national attention. Owner Charles Wright initially doubted the information when the New York Times asked him about it.
‘The thing is, she has these dark sunglasses on,’ he told the paper last year. ‘She just was another lady.’
The campaign did not immediately respond to a request seeking confirmation of the authenticity of the emails describing Clinton’s Chipotle run.