Peter Schweizer’s upcoming book, “Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich,” generated buzz on TV news on Monday as its May 5 release nears.
Politico’s Ben White said “it matters, — the Clinton campaign is worried about it and what revelations are in it.” And “what it shows is there’s a giant appetite for stories about the Clinton’s fundraising machine, and their $136 million they earned personally between leaving the White House and 2012, and looking at how that money was generated, whether there are conflicts of interest, even if they’re not big revelations from, it is a bad story line for Hillary Clinton. Because it makes her look super wealthy, and potentially having these conflicts in how she managed her affairs at State. So, it’s bad regardless” on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” although he did caution that he would have to see if the book “delivers the goods” and can provide proof of quid pro quos.
The book was also described as “very detailed” by Fox News Channel anchor Bret Baier, who added there will be a “reverberation” from it on “Fox & Friends.” “Clinton Cash” was also characterized as having the potential to be “a central focus of this campaign” by Fox News’ Chief White House Correspondent Ed Henry on “America’s Newsroom” and a possible “test to Hillary’s dominance” by CNN’s Alisyn Camerota on “New Day.”
“Clinton Cash” was also described as “vitriol” by CNN’s Carol Costello on “CNN Newsroom,” and received mentions on FNC’s “Outnumbered” ABC’s “Good Morning America” and C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal.” On the Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Co” the Heritage Foundation’s Steve Moore argued that the media has treated the story with “a feather,” and would be harsher on Republican candidates with a similar history.
Later in the day, CNN’s Jeff Zeleny reported the Clinton campaign is taking the book “very seriously” on “Wolf.” And FNC’s Ed Henry added that the book was “pushing the story forward” on Clinton’s foreign donors, and “threaten” to “derail” her kickoff in New Hampshire, while the story also received coverage on FBN’s “Money with Melissa Francis,” (who also discussed the book on FNC’s “O’Reilly Factor” and “Countdown to the Closing Bell,” and MSNBC’s “The Cycle.” FBN’s “Willis Report” and FNC’s “The Five” led off with the book.
On Monday’s “Special Report,” Brit Hume declared that “if the book establishes, even chronologically, a connection between gifts to the Clinton Foundation or speaking fees to Bill Clinton, and adjustments, shifts, changes in Hillary Clinton’s positions or actions as Secretary of State, I think that’s problematic for her.”
MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow Show.” Maddow was surprised that the Washington Post and New York Times reached agreements with Schweizer to follow-up on the allegations on the book, saying “it is strange, or at least striking, given this particular author’s history with inaccurately reporting in the past, but reporting them in a way that is appealingly exclamatory and exciting enough to the political press that he sometimes gets past the standards of real news outlets and gets his stuff in print, and then those outlets have to correct him later.” [Note: the second segment of Maddow’s coverage, which has her interview with David Brock is available here]
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