United States Senator Tom Cotton joined me today to discuss the exploding scandal surrounding the “pay-to-play” Clinton State Department, where the price of possible access to the Secretary –not guaranteed– were hefty contributions or services to the Clinton Foundation:

Audio:

08-23hhs-cotton

Transcript:

HH: Right now, I’m joined by United States Senator Tom Cotton from the great state of Arkansas. Senator Cotton, a good August to you. I hope you’re having a good summer break from Washington, D.C.

TC: Good morning, Hugh. It’s great to be on with you from Arkansas, where no one is surprised to learn about more shady dealings by the Clintons.

HH: Well, let me run down what we learned yesterday. S. Daniel Abraham, a major donor, wanted a meeting. He went to the Clinton Foundation to ask for it from Secretary Clinton. Bono wanted to use a satellite link to get to the Space Station. He went to the Clinton Foundation to ask the Secretary. We learned that two weeks ago, Gilbert Chagoury, a very shady character, wanted a meeting with the Secretary. He went to Doug Band at the Foundation. The Crown Prince of Bahrain, who’d given $32 million dollars to the Foundation, wanted a meeting. He went to Doug Band at the Foundation to get to the Secretary. Casey Wasserman, a philanthropist who’s given $10 million dollars, $5-10 million dollars to the Foundation, wanted a visa for a crook. He asked Doug Band, who asked Huma Abedin. To be clear, they did not give him the visa, but that’s, what does this pattern show you, Tom Cotton?

TC: Hugh, it shows what Arkansans have known for 40 years, that when the Clintons are involved, there’s almost always some kind of pay to play scandal going on. And as I understand it, all of these requests you just described came through in a mere 750 pages of emails, not even 750 emails. So just imagine what is contained in the 15,000 pages of emails that the FBI discovered, that Hillary Clinton said, that when she said that she had turned over all work-related emails, the FBI said that is not right. And hopefully, all those emails will be released before the election, so the American people can see just how deeply intertwined the Clinton Foundation was with the conduct of U.S. foreign policy.

HH: Now to me, the most important reveal thus far is that Gilbert Chagoury made an ask of Doug Band, who relayed it to Huma Abedin. We don’t know what was discussed. We’ve had antiseptic versions of that told to us by the cover up artists at the Clinton Foundation. But Gilbert Chagoury is a business partner with the late Marc Rich. Ought that not to have been a red flag for everyone?

TC: Hugh, one would think that Marc Rich’s involvement in anything would be a red flag. Let’s just remind all your listeners that Marc Rich is the international tax fugitive that Bill Clinton inexplicably pardoned in the final days of his presidency along with some of the Puerto Rican terrorists he pardoned to help Hillary Clinton’s Senate campaign in 2000. If Hillary Clinton wins this election, we can expect these kind of dealings to continue in the future. They’ve been part of the Clinton M.O. for 40 years. They’re not going to change their stripes over the next four.

HH: Now I had on the Wall Street Journal’s lead reporter on the Clinton Foundation, and you know, he’s an interesting guy, and he’s a little defensive over the fact that I’ve been critical of the mainstream media. But my question is, his name is James Grimaldi, and I’ve posted the audio and transcript of our interview. But my question to you is, is the media paying enough attention to Chagoury-Rich? I haven’t seen one story in a major newspaper about the fact that Gilbert Chagoury and Marc Rich were business partners.

TC: I haven’t seen that story either, Hugh. And it is very suspect. And I would like to see more reporting on the fact that again, you have these very shady foreign oligarchs involved with the Clinton Foundation, and involved intimately with the State Department under Secretary of State Clinton. That’s why I’ve said that Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton should immediately suspend all donations to the Clinton Foundation from foreign governments and from corporations. They said they will if she wins. But that’s really just an alarm bell for all those people to send in their money right now if they want to buy access in a future Clinton White House.

HH: Yeah, it’s the starting gun. We just watched the Olympics. The starting gun just went off, and if you want to have access to the White House, you can’t count on the Lincoln bedroom being for rent again. You’ve got to get your money in early.

TC: Yeah, I mean, they’re having a fire sale at the Clinton Foundation for White House access. So all of those oligarchs all around the world are worried about fulfilling their life’s work of eradicating disease and poverty need to get their money in now.

HH: Now James Carville just argued on Morning Joe, and he’ll be on with me later, that we’re picking on a foundation that’s eradicating malaria and driving down the cost of HIV drugs, and this is the best thing Bill Clinton’s ever done, and why do we hate charity. What’s your response?

TC: So if Lebanese Nigerian billionaires who cavort with dictators and other kinds of shady international operators really wanted to eradicate disease and poverty, Hugh, there’s plenty of more legitimate foundations and organizations who could lead that work. The Clinton Foundation’s finances are notoriously opaque. They largely subsidize the Clinton family’s lifestyle. There’s one reason and one reason only that you would pursue this work through the Clinton Foundation. It’s because since the Foundation was set up, Hillary Clinton has been in office or been expecting to return to office, and these people are trying to curry favor with powerful politicians in America.

HH: But Carville argued that they’ve given, they get no money from the Foundation. They in fact gave a million dollars to the Foundation.

TC: Which again subsidizes their lifestyle in private jets and resorts, and all their retainers like Doug Band and the other hangers on the Clintons have had around them for 40 years. That’s the way these things work in the real world, Hugh, not in James Carville’s idealized world.

HH: 30 seconds left, Senator Cotton, will we get these documents in time to understand the depth of the corruption?

TC: I certainly hope so. A federal judge has ordered the State Department to release them as quickly as possible. The American people need to understand just how untrustworthy and dishonest Hillary Clinton was as Secretary of State in her dealings with the Clinton Foundation.

HH: Tom Cotton, Senator from Arkansas, always a pleasure. Thank you, Senator.

End of interview.