Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), a 2016 GOP presidential candidate, told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview on Thursday morning that President Barack Obama should investigate former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton—and that he’s pushing for a congressional investigation as well—after a New York Times report on Wednesday evening based on an explosive new book uncovered her role in a shady Uranium deal.
Paul, who was previously briefed on the findings of the forthcoming Peter Schweizer book Clinton Cash, said:
This really has been the particular case of the Clinton Cash that bothers me the most and that should bother voters the most. We now have a uranium company that is control of 20 percent of the uranium mining in North America—that’s owned by the Russians. This deal had to be approved by Hillary Clinton and it turns out that the stockholders in that company gave $145 million to Hillary Clinton’s foundation. I can’t imagine how she could be a part of the decision-making process while she received so much money in her foundation—$145 million.
Paul specifically said that President Obama should be outraged at this, and should personally demand an investigation into the matter:
I think there are some questions that have to be investigated. If I were President Obama, I would want to know what other potential deals was she in charge of where she received donations to the foundation during the same period of time. Really it is a question—there is a sense of impropriety, or an appearance of impropriety here, where they’re accepting money from shareholders of a company that was then sold to the Russians at the same time. So I just don’t see any reason why the Clinton Foundation should be accepting any money from foreign countries or from foreigners.
Paul added, too, that he’s working with leaders from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee—of which he is a member—to press for a congressional investigation.
“We’re looking into it right now to see who overseas the approval of—and I believe it would be the Foreign Relations Committee. I’m going to talk to some people on the committee and see what level of interest there is in investigating this. Yeah, I’m alarmed at this. I think this is another example of the Clintons thinking they’re above the law,” he said.
Paul has previously said Clinton should be “precluded” from seeking the nation’s highest office due to her role in the Benghazi terrorist attack scandal in 2012 and said he thinks this also precludes her. Paul said, when asked if these developments also preclude Clinton from being seriously considered for the presidency:
Yeah I think so, I think it’s just one thing after another. It’s getting to the point where one thing adds to another. I think the lack of defense of our diplomatic missions from a serious lack of wisdom on her part—you need a commander-in-chief with the wisdom and wherewithal to defend our American assets around the world. And it’s very concerning–and this goes to the point of whether we should trust her to hold high office, since she’s received so many large donations in the millions of dollars from foreign countries and foreign individuals.
Paul also wonders if this type of development may shake up the Democratic field for president. Back in 2008, Clinton was widely expected to be coronated as the Democratic nominee—just like she is expected to be now—but along came little-known freshman Illinois Senator Barack Obama to beat her and win the White House.
“I think it would be extraordinary if the dynamic changes, but it’s also hard to believe that,, even with all these skeletons coming out of the closet, that there’s not going to be a re-shuffling of dominance on the Democratic side,” Paul said. “We’ll see.”
Of course, there are several other Democrats mulling a run for the White House. They include former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, former Virginia Sen. James Webb and—while she won’t say she is—many expect Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to be considering a run.
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