“Clinton Cash” author Peter Schweizer argued “there’s far less evidence” against former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell (R) and New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez (D) then there is against the Clintons on Wednesday’s “In the Loop” on Bloomberg.
Schweizer said, “Bloomberg this morning, Joshua Green is reporting, and the Washington Post that we now have 1100 donations that ended up at the Clinton Foundation that were never disclosed. And part of the memorandum of understanding with the Obama transition team was they would disclose all donations, including donations going to this Clinton-Giustra entity.”
He continued, “people say, ‘well, do you have an e-mail or something that indicates it?’ No…the evidence is the pattern of behavior. It’s a little bit like insider trading. Most people that engage in insider trading don’t send an e-mail that says ‘I have inside information, buy this stock.’…A lot of times the smart ones, they will look at a pattern of well-timed stock trades. They have access to inside information and they just seem to always guess right. That has been sufficient grounds, numerous times for prosecution for insider trading. And if you look at the former Governor of Virginia, Governor McDonnell, you look at Senator Menendez, the prosecutions they have faced, I think legitimately, there’s far less evidence than there is as it relates to the favors given to Clinton Foundation donors.”
When asked how he would rate what he has found with regards to the Clintons compared to the financial dealings of other political figures he has investigated, Schweizer stated, “I think it’s worse in a lot of cases. Because we’re not talking about one or two or three examples, we’re talking about dozens of examples and policy decisions that always benefit those who have provided them with funds.” He added that “the Clinton position is basically that these are all just massive coincidences.”
Schweizer also said the Clinton camp’s defense that she wasn’t involved in the Uranium One deal, wasn’t true, saying, “a small uranium company in Canada that the Russian government wants to purchase, you have nine major shareholders who are giving $145 million to the Clinton Foundation, and sponsoring speeches as all of this is going on. Maybe that’s coincidence, but when you see all of the other examples in the book…it’s hard to conclude that it’s coincidence.”
He concluded that while there isn’t the “geographical breadth,” his investigation into Jeb Bush is finding similar scenarios to what he has found with the Clintons.
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett