Rand Paul: Foreign donations to Clinton Foundation 'thinly veiled bribes'

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told POLITICO on Friday that foreign contributions to the Clinton Foundation are “thinly veiled bribes,” and said Hillary Clinton should return any donations from Saudi Arabia or other countries that abuse the rights of women.

“The normal Clinton response is to cover up, deny, refuse to acknowledge,” Paul said in a telephone interview as he was being driven through New Hampshire. “But the question is whether the country will rise up and respond to the unseemly nature of accepting foreign donations. “


Paul said that in addition to Saudi Arabia, the foundation should return donations from the United Arab Emirates and Brunei.

“In countries that stone people to death for adultery and imprison people for adultery, this is the kind of thing you would think someone for women’s rights would be standing up against, instead of accepting thinly veiled bribes,” the senator added.

In remarks for delivery to Republican activists Friday night at the Carroll County Lincoln Day Dinner in North Conway, N.H., Paul will say: “There has been much talk of a war on women. There is indeed a war on women — in Saudi Arabia. When Hillary Clinton claims she will support women’s rights, ask her why she accepted millions of dollars from” — and then he plans to mention specific countries.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday night that the Clinton Foundation received $7.3 million from Saudi Arabians from 1999 to 2014, based on contributions of more than $50,000. The Clinton Foundation says the money has gone to good projects that are “improving the lives of millions of people around the globe.”

Adrienne E. Watson, deputy communications director and director of surrogates for American Bridge's Correct the Record, a pro-Clinton group, said: “This is rich coming from Rand Paul, who defends individual liberties only when it suits him, and not when these rights extend to the pay discrimination or healthcare of women. Hillary Clinton has spent a lifetime advocating on behalf of women, children and their families. Throughout her life and through the charitable work of the Clinton Foundation and programs like No Ceilings, she has helped improve the lives of millions of women throughout the world."

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