Sen. Tom Cotton Quips: FBI Might Ask Putin for Copies of Missing Hillary Emails

The Arkansas senator on the list of potential running mates for Donald J. Trump, the GOP’s presumptive nominee, told activists Saturday at the Western Conservative Summit that Hillary Clinton’s reckless and criminal behavior disqualifies her to become America’s commander-in-chief.

A combat veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, Sen. Thomas Cotton (R.-Ark.) said he was glad make it on time for his speech after a series of travel delays.

“We were on the tarmac, I thought Bill Clinton might be boarding my plane to talk to me,” said the former Army Airborne Ranger officer.

Cotton said it was shocking, but not shocking to him, that the former president would meet with Attorney General Loretta Lynch — whose department is investigating both his wife and himself for his handling of the Clinton Foundation.

Clinton’s decision to conduct all her official business on her own private email account on her own private server and the way she has handled official and media inquires about it was just teaser of how her administration will approach transparency and national security, Cotton said.

The FBI still does not have 30,000 emails the expected Democratic nominee for president claimed to have deleted.

“It has gotten so bad, the FBI is on the verge of asking Vladimir Putin for his copies of Hillary’s emails,” Cotton said.

In addition to the criminal nature of the former first lady scheme, he said, conducting official and classified business on an unsecured server exposed American national security to our enemies.

Americans should not be surprised that the former secretary of state would put America at risk, he said. Working with President Barack Obama, Clinton oversaw a foreign policy that treated allies as troublemakers and our enemies as victims with legitimate complaints about the United States. Chief among the enemies is the Islamic Republic of Iran, which Obama-Clinton empowered by lifting sanctions, thawing frozen assets, and ignoring Iran’s support of violent terrorism.

Cotton was elected to the Senate in 2014 and he serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee. The senator endorsed Trump in May and he told reporters he has not ruled out running for vice-president on the ticket with the New York City developer.

The Western Conservative Summit is hosted by the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University, Lakewood, Colorado.