New York Times columnist David Brooks declared that the scandal involving the Clinton Foundation’s ties to Russia’s acquisition of a uranium company is “way more egregious than I expected” on Friday’s “PBS NewsHour.”
“It’s [the Clinton uranium story] way more egregious than I expected. I thought there were donations, and people were giving money. But there — some people were probably giving money for the noblest of reasons to the foundation, some people not — apparently giving money not for the noblest of reasons. And this uranium story, where there’s a connection, where the Secretary of State nominally sits on this government body which gives OKs to mergers with national security implications, and then a company deeply involved in that kind of merger giving lots of money in the opportune moment to the Clinton Foundation, according to my newspaper, the foundation not reporting it really adequately, that’s reasonably stark.”
Brooks added, “Now, the defense is, she didn’t know, she wasn’t directly involved. Well, that’s completely plausible. But the fact is, you’re sitting on — as Secretary of State, or you’re Bill Clinton running the foundation, and somebody’s giving you all this money, and you know it has government implications, and that doesn’t ring all sorts of alarm bells? Where’s the self-protection there? Where’s the self-censorship or the self-thing — no, this is not right? And so, I’m sort of stunned by it. I’m surprised by it. And, you know, the paradox of it right now as far as Hillary Clinton’s presidency — or candidacy is, people think she’s a strong leader. But the latest Quinnipiac poll suggests they don’t trust her, they don’t think she’s honest. They have these two thoughts in their minds at the same time. And it just seems, with the Clinton family, there’s going to be a lot of competence, and a lot of great political talent, and governmental talent, but you’re going to have a run of low-level scandals throughout the whole deal.
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