The Clintons and Tony Rezko

The man Hillary Clinton called a "slum lord" posed in a photo with her and Bill during Bill's presidency. On Friday, January 25, 2008, Hillary Clinton appeared on NBC's Today show and was asked if she remembered taking a photograph with her husband and Tony Rezko. Clinton commented "I probably have taken hundreds of thousands of pictures. I wouldn’t know him if he walked in the door. I don’t have a 17-year relationship with him. There’s a big difference between standing somewhere taking a picture with someone you don’t know and haven’t seen since and having a relationship that, you know, the newspapers in Chicago have been exploring."

She later added, "I took a lot of incoming fire for many, many months and I was happy to absorb it because obviously, you know, I felt that was part of my responsibility. But toward the end of a campaign you have to set the record straight. I try not to attack first, but I have to defend myself -- I do have to counterpunch."