RUSH: Former President Bill Clinton is surfacing to defend the Clinton Crime Family Foundation because, as predicted, news stories about the Clinton Foundation are scaring off the people that want to bribe the Clintons, the access-buyers. The reason that is happening is because the scam has been exposed. The scam is that it isn’t about charity. It’s about personal enrichment by selling future access and granting favors from a sitting secretary of state for exorbitant sums of money, under the guise of selflessness.
The Clintons have gone out and they tell these donors (Clinton impression), “You know, the American people love us, and especially me. The American people love me, and I can’t do anything wrong. (laughing) I mean, I have done all kinds of things, and they still think I’m the biggest stud in the whole country! So you can give me money and everybody’s just gonna assume I will do great things. I’m gonna go out and help earthquake victims and tsunami victims and wherever there’s trouble I’m gonna be there.
“Nobody’s gonna question it. They’re gonna think you’re a hero donating to our foundation. You’ll be a great guy. They’re gonna think you’re doing great things. You just be patient. When Hillary gets elected president, that’s when we’ll expect hear from. And if you want access now, she’s secretary of state.” This little quid pro quo stuff went on underneath the table. It’s all been exposed now, including the fact that 15% — only 15% — of what is donated actually goes to charitable endeavors.
So now the donors are receiving the same scrutiny the Clintons are getting. The donors now are being scrutinized. It’s almost like they’re cockroaches under the sink and you got your flashlight out trying to find ’em so you can wipe ’em out but you can’t. Cockroaches survive everything. But they’re scattering. So Clinton surfaces and does an interview on NBC News with Cynthia McFadden. He decried what he saw as a concerted effort to take down his foundation and said he had done nothing “knowingly inappropriate.”
(impression) “Hey, you know, I might have done some stuff wrong but I didn’t it knowing I was doing it. I mean, I thought I was aboveboard all the way. I’ve never… That’s not who I am. That’s not who we are. We don’t knowingly do things inappropriate. (laughing) It just comes to light later that they were, but we didn’t know it at the time. You can trust me on that.” Speaking about accepting foreign donations while his wife was secretary of state.
(impression) “That is a very deliberate attempt here to take that foundation down. I mean, there’s almost no new fact that wasn’t known first time she ran for president. We’re gonna come as close as we can during her presidential campaign to following the rules that we followed when she was secretary of state.” Let’s go to the audio sound bites and you’ll hear for yourself. Cynthia McFadden on the Today Show this morning, said to Clinton, you’re proud of the work on the African programs the Clinton Foundation has raised billions to help fund.
CLINTON: I don’t think there’s anything sinister in trying to get wealthy people and countries that are seriously involved in development to spend their money wisely in a way that helps poor people and lifts them up. There has been a very deliberate attempt to take the foundation down, and there’s almost no new fact known now that was known when she ran for president the first time. I don’t want to get into the weeds, here. I’m not responsible for anybody else’s perception. I asked Hillary about this and she said, “You know, no one’s ever tried to influence me by helping you.” No one has even suggested they have a shred of evidence to that effect.
RUSH: Are you kidding me? (laughing) He actually said that? (laughing) He actually said, “I asked Hillary about this,” as though he had to ask her? (impression) “I asked Hillary about this, and she said, ‘You know, no one’s ever tried to influence me by helping you.” Well, that’s comforting to know. So the former president tells us (impression), “You know, I was so worried about people buying influence with us — you know, ’cause she’s secretary of state. I knew how it could look. I asked Hillary, I asked her about this, and she told me not to worry.
“She said that no one has ever tried to influence her by helping me. So there’s nothing to see here. Well, what do you think I’m gonna say, that she did tell me that people are trying to influence her? (laughing) If she told me that, I’m not gonna tell you. And I, know, Cynthia you’re gonna report everything I say. ‘Cause, Cynthia, I know that you’re one of the many who look at me and say, ‘if only.’ Ha-ha. I just know that’s the case. You’re a woman; I know how women react to me, and that’s the deal.
“No one has even suggested they have a shred of evidence to that effect! I mean, that people have sought to influence Hillary by giving money to me or paying for my speech.” Really? Ha! (laughing) This is too good for words. This is fabulous. So the next question from Cynthia McFadden, “You certainly didn’t grow up wealthy, but you have become a wealthy…” Do you notice the penetrating, tough questions?
I mean, Clinton loves this! She’s basically saying, “Hey, you started from nothing. You’re a small time, hick governor, and now look at you! You’re rich. You run in the same crowds that I do — my buddy Barbara Walters and all of us — and it’s great to have you in the group, Bill.” That’s the question. Here’s his answer.
CLINTON: I have, yes, and one of the most amusing things of all is everybody saying, “Well, how can Hillary possibly relate to the concerns of middle-class America because now we have money?” I mean it’s laughable. It’s okay if you inherit your money apparently; then you can help people. I’m grateful for our success, but let me remind you, when we moved into the White House we had the lowest net worth of any family. I give 10% of my revenue off the top every year to the foundation, and Hillary in the year she was there gave 17%. Over the last 15 years, I’ve taken almost no capital gains.
RUSH: (impression) “There aren’t any capital gains in the Clintons Crime Family Foundation. (chuckling) We got no capital gains. See, I’m throwing out big financial term words there that I know nobody’s gonna know what I’m saying. I’m relying on people thinking I know my stuff. I haven’t taken any capital gains in over 15 years.” There aren’t any capital gains in the Clinton Crime Family Foundation — and if there were, you wouldn’t be entitled to ’em anyway!
That’s the whole point of the foundation: Once you put your money into it, it’s gone! It’s not yours anymore. You get a charitable write-off for ’em; that’s it. (impression) “That’s right, Limbaugh, unless (chuckling) — unless — you set it up so that you work for the foundation, got salaries and travel expenses and entertainment and stuff like that. But Hillary and I have talked about it. I’ve asked Hillary about that. I said, ‘Have you taken money from our foundation when you travel around and so forth?’ She said, ‘No!’
“She assured me that she’d never been tempted to do that; she charged it all to Uncle Sam. I haven’t been paid! We haven’t been paid a cent by the foundation for this kind of stuff. You trust me on this.” Fine. He also assured Cynthia McFadden that he’s not gonna stop giving high-priced speeches even though he did acknowledge being a wealthy man these days. He said (impression), “Well, I gotta pay our bills, and I also give a lot to the foundation every year.
“I spent a couple of hours a day just do the research. People like to hear me speak. That’s right. You think I get $500,000 for doing nothing? I don’t. I spend at least two hours a day researching everything I’m gonna say in a speech. It isn’t my fault that people like hear me speak. (chuckling) It’s not my fault. It isn’t my fault they want pay me a half million dollars.
“And I asked Hillary. I said, ‘Has anybody been paying me $500,000 expecting you to do something for ’em when you were secretary of state?’ She assured me no such thing has ever happened. So there’s really nothing to see here. All I’m saying is that the idea that there’s one set of rules for us and another set for everybody else is true — that’s all I’m saying — ’cause we’re special.”
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RUSH: By the way, the Clinton Foundation has confirmed that it paid $11 million for Clinton family travel in 2014. They spent more than $8 million on Clinton family travel in 2013. You think Hillary was gonna pay for her own campaign trips until she absolutely had to? There was no way. And I suspect that $19 million for travel, $19 million for Clinton family travel in two years is probably a lot more money than they gave to the foundation over the last two years, probably a heck of a lot more money than they gave. So they’re taking out, there’s no question.