RUSH: You know, as Tom Brokaw once said discussing Obama (imitating Brokaw), “It’s an interesting question, a very interesting question.” I’m getting e-mails from younger people out there, Millennials, who are asking me to speak up more, even more about this Hillary stuff because it’s all news to them. And one of them had a really, really good question for somebody who doesn’t know much about them because they’re not old enough to know.

JOHNNY DONOVAN: And now, from sunny south Florida, it’s Open Line Friday!

RUSH: Yes siree, Open Line Friday, one of the greatest excursions into broadcast excellence that happens during the busy broadcast week because the host takes one of the greatest career risks ever taken in major media. And that is, turning the content portion of the program over to the callers, who, by definition, have zero experience doing this. Makes them rank amateurs.

But that’s what Open Line Friday is. Open Line Friday, whatever anybody wants to talk about. Here is the telephone number: 800-282-2882.

So the e-mail question from the young person I got — this is a really good question. And it’s not gonna be any big deal to those of you who are of a certain age and have intimate memories of the Clintons in the nineties. But the question is, this person has been following the news on all this and has heard that this is by no means the Clintons’ first scandal rodeo, and the guy wants to know, “How’ve they survived?” And, you know, it made me stop and think. They always survive this, no matter what.

Where to put this, this latest Clinton scandal, the selling of influence. The acquisition of personal wealth, selling influence that, in many cases, is on the come, it’s all dependent on whether Hillary becomes president now that she’s not in the State Department anymore. Personal enrichment, I mean, it’s sleazy, it’s filthy. The latest news that’s been dropped by Peter Schweizer, author of the book, is that the Clintons profited wildly off the Haiti earthquake. They profited even from the disaster of the Haiti earthquake.

And you know what the answer to the question is, they survive all of this. The stuff all sticks, by the way. That’s the thing. It all sticks. But they survive it. Now, one of the reasons they survive it, for you young people, is the Republicans. The Republicans permit it. Did you see, there were 10 Republicans. I’ve got the names here. Let me find the names. Don’t tell me I didn’t put this on top. I meant to put this on top.

Loretta Lynch was confirmed as the new attorney general. Now, when this happened yesterday, I said to myself, “Why do we even need to elect Republicans? If they’re just gonna give the Democrats what they want, and if they’re gonna give the Democrats what they want because they’re afraid to say no, because the person in question is African-American, then what good are they?” And that’s exactly what happened here. We had an election. It was a landslide Republican victory last November. It may as well have been worthless. And the Democrats know that the Republicans are gonna back down on all of this stuff.

The Republicans don’t have the guts to oppose a liberal if the liberal is black. And pretty soon they’re not gonna have the guts to oppose a liberal if the liberal is Hispanic. And pretty soon after that they’re not gonna have the guts to oppose a liberal if the liberal is a woman. And the Democrats know all of this to the point that the Republicans have just given up. They have given over the entire congressional check and balance power to Obama. The Senate may as well not be a factor.

So the country just continues on this spiral down the drain because the Republicans in the Senate don’t want to be called names by crazy people, by literal lunatics. You know, the vote for cloture yesterday, Republicans are hiding behind: No, no, no, no. We did not vote for her, we voted for cloture. But Ted Cruz said the only vote that mattered was the vote for cloture. I’m not dumb enough to fall for any of this.

Here are the 10 Republican senators that broke ranks and sided with the Democrats to get Loretta Lynch over the 50-vote threshold. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Orrin Hatch (Utah), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Susan Collins (Maine), Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Mark Kirk (Ill.), Rob Portman (Ohio), Thad Cochran (Miss.), Ron Johnson (Wis.) and Mitch McConnell (Ky.).

“In the end, according to one GOP Senate aide, LynchÂ’s ‘race and sex’ did ‘have an impact’ on her nomination, which was confirmed when ten Republicans voted with the chamberÂ’s 44 Democrats and two independents in her favor. ‘If she were white, I think it would have been more difficult to find the five votes needed to be confirmed,’ the aide says.”

Obviously it would have. So you’re saying, “What’s this got to do with the Clintons?” Well, in politics, you get away with as much as anything anybody will let you get away with. If nobody is gonna stop you, if there isn’t any push-back, as we’ve seen with Obama, then you’re gonna keep getting away with it. And if the Republicans are afraid to vote down a nomination for attorney general on the basis of a woman’s race because they’re simply afraid of what’s gonna be said about them — and make no mistake, that’s probably the larger factor here — then the same thing likely will happen if any of this with Mrs. Clinton ever reach critical mass.

You want some evidence? John Boehner (imitating Boehner), “Hey, you know, I worked with the Clintons up here a long time. They’re good people. They made some mistakes here, but they’re good people.” When’s the last time you ever heard a Democrat say of a Republican, “They’re good people. They’re fine people.” They don’t say that. They’re racist, sexist, bigot, homophobes, whatever else they want to pile on.

So in the whole context of this latest Clinton scandal, is it gonna matter? If you look at the Clintons, they don’t look like they’re bothered by any of this. In fact, you know what the Clintons are doing? This is classic, too. This is part and parcel of what they always do in conjunction with the Democrat Party. They warn the Republicans, “You had better be careful. You’re gonna overreach. You’re gonna criticize me too much. You’re gonna keep piling on and piling on and you’re gonna create a bunch of sympathy for me. You better be careful.” She’s out saying that. Clinton and their team are out warning the Republicans, “You better dial this back a little bit. You keep this up, and you’re gonna end up helping me.”

And, lo and behold, the Republicans actually probably think that. I know “actually, probably” kind of contradicts. Let me rephrase. I think the Republicans do think that. You can hear some of them say it. “We have to be very, very careful here. We can’t overreach. We can’t appear to be hitting the girl,” you know, this kind of thing. So this set of Clinton scandals borders on the criminal. We’ve had it referenced here as the Clinton Crime Family Foundation, not by me, but by other observers.

We have the New York Times continuing to pulverize them. We have the Washington Post continuing to pulverize them. We have The Politico today finally acknowledging that they are concerned about all of this. We now have the latest shoe to drop, which is the Clintons profited handsomely from the Haiti earthquake. How do you profit handsomely from people who are dirt poor? You have to abscond some of the aid money. The Haiti people don’t have any money. Haitian people don’t have any money.

So here’s an earthquake, golden opportunity, gonna be all kinds of donations. The Clintons are the first people on the ground claiming to do charitable work, siphoning off the donations. How else can it happen? But this is the world of politics. We’re not in law enforcement yet. We haven’t gotten to the criminal justice system yet. This is all politics. If there isn’t gonna be any push-back on it, if all there’s gonna be is the author of the book, Schweizer, and me and others, Fox News, talking about this all the time on TV, the Clintons are gonna remain unscathed. (interruption) Well, you tell me how it’s gonna be otherwise. You think she gonna quit?

I mentioned yesterday, it wasn’t me, there’s one of the — I read so many things yesterday. I don’t remember which, but somebody in the media suggested that what’s really happening here is the media is begging Hillary to get out before they have to really destroy them, meaning that there’s so much more yet to come, so much more damnable news yet to come that the media is trying to force, ’cause they don’t want to destroy them. How else is this is gonna happen? Well, you might say, “Well, Hillary is gonna be damaged at the ballot box.” That’s possible, but I’m telling you, folks, if you’re the Republican Party, you simply can’t rely on that happening. You’ve got to help make it happen. God bless Romney. He’s out there calling it what it is.

Did you hear this? He’s calling it bribery. “It appears that she’s been bribed.” Of course she’s been bribed! Willingly! Sometimes bribery can have with it the connotation that you have no choice. You know, like when the mob comes to you and demand this or that. You end up being bribed and you have no choice. In this case, she’s selling. There’s no bribery in that. She’s been bribed, yeah, but with willing participation. The same thing with Der Schlick Meister.

My only point here is for you and I who’ve been around here since the early nineties when these people first assumed office. I just want to ask you: “How many times during the Clinton administration did you think, “A-ha! Got ’em.” Rose Law Firm billing records, cattle futures, Vince Foster, Whitewater, FBI files, go down the list. (interruption) “This is different,” huh? How many times did you say during the nineties every time a new one was discovered, “This is different?” (interruption)

Yeah, okay. Okay. So Mr. Snerdley, who is a slave to the inside-the-Beltway establishment political way of thinking — and that’s not being critical. I’m not being critical by saying that. Mr. Snerdley is fascinated by that, the goings on in Washington, inside the Beltway. That’s not a criticism. So you think this is different. This is different? (interruption) Mmm-hmm. (interruption) I know. I know it’s different in the sense that Republicans are not alleging any of this.

The stories do not say, “Republicans claim…” or “Rush Limbaugh and his radio program today claimed…” No, no. This is the Drive-By Media saying it. This is Richard Schweizer saying it. Schweizer. Dick Schweizer. I know they’re using the same old stonewalling tactics they’ve always succeeded in using. I’m not trying to be a downer here. I’m trying to be a realist. Don’t jump off any cliffs here, folks. There’s a long, long, long way to go on this. But understand something.

I’ve been thinking even more that Mrs. Clinton cannot drop out of this. She cannot quit. There are too many people who have given too much money, sitting around waiting for the payback. The payback is her in the Oval Office and her husband running around doing whatever. (interruption) “She can have another concussion.” It’s gonna have to be a legitimate concussion because I’m telling you, none of these people…

It’s like if you owe the loan shark $50,000. If you owe the bank everything the bank’s worth, the bank is not gonna repossess. The bank is gonna keep you going, if you’re the only way they’ve got to get their money back. Well, Mrs. Clinton is the only way these people have of getting their money back in a sense. She’s gotta get elected. (interruption) They’re not gonna… (interruption) They’re not gonna inflict a concussion on her. Is that what you think? I can’t believe that’s the best you can do.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Snerdley thinks this time is different. We shall see. Here’s the thing, folks. Without Hillary Clinton as secretary of state or a viable candidate for president, the Clinton Foundation is nothing. Do you understand that? I mean… (interruption) No, no, no. I’m being dead serious. The Clinton Family Foundation is nothing. There’s no reason to donate. Why would you give any money to these people? (interruption)

Okay. All right. Maybe ’cause Bill is the strongest lobbyist. But that pales in comparison to Hillary actually at State or running for president with the quote/unquote “likelihood” she’s going to win. My point is these people are not going quietly into the night, and if you think — if anyone thinks — that these revelations are gonna cause anything like that to happen, you are wrong. Their respective legacies may be the least of their worries.

We know Clinton cares about that, but right now that’s gonna take a backseat.

Everything is on the line here, first of which is their money. Do not doubt me, the Clintons are obsessed with wealth, their own personal wealth, and they have been since the eighties. I know everybody wants more money. These people have obsessed over it. It has been the prime motivating factor for much of what they have done, and the obsession is so great that they will willingly operate outside the law in order to acquire it.

But my theory is this: No one is gonna donate to this sham charity unless they’re getting something in return. They’re not gonna donate to Clinton ’cause he’s a likable guy. They’re not gonna donate to Clinton ’cause he’s got great charisma (and there’s none of that that Hillary has that would make you want to give money). Now what’s gonna happen? We had a caller allude to this yesterday. Now every one of these donors is being scrutinized.

All of these donors are gonna have their quote/unquote “investments” examined. Maybe not the same and maybe not as intensely as if they’d been caught donating to a Republican charity like this. But nevertheless, these donors are being rooted out, they are being investigated, and the reason they want the Clintons’ influence is being uncovered. The Clintons have sought a way, via the establishment of a charitable foundation, to line their pockets.

If the Republicans were up to doing their jobs, if this had come to light while Hillary was president, she should be impeached. But then again, that has to happen. I don’t think that’s ever going to happen. I don’t think the Republicans, until there’s a whole new crop of ’em who are not even born yet, are ever, ever gonna contemplate impeachment again. You talk about PTSD? They’re not going anywhere near it, and the Clintons know that, too, as well as does the Democrat Party.

Now, we now know that Hillary Clinton and Bill conspired to allow Vladimir Putin to corner the uranium market. I mean, that’s even more “flexibility” than Obama promised after the election. We’re on the precipice here. Make no mistake about this: We’re on the precipice of one of the largest cover-ups in the history of this country. It is being contemplated as we speak, and one of the factors of this cover-up is the warnings going out from the Clintons and the media to the Republicans, “You’d better be careful.

“You don’t want to overreach! You could end up helping her. You could end up creating sympathy.” This is the Clintons and their allies advising the Republicans that if they know what’s good for them, they’ll back off. Just like when they advise Republicans, “Hey, if you really want to win the presidency, you’ll never criticize a Democrat! The independents won’t like it,” or, “If you really want to win the presidency, you better agree with us on amnesty, otherwise the Hispanics won’t like it.”

The Republicans fall for all of these tricks, and it’s a feature and phase of the cover-up. The money the Clintons received… I mean, look, several cabinet members signed off on this uranium deal, folks. There are a lot of people exposed here. The money that the Clintons received, directly and indirectly, is staggering. A hundred million here, tens of millions over there. Now everybody’s going into CYA. The Clintons may have been targeted by Obama, but the Clintons might take him down with them. But that would require investigation. That is an overreach. I don’t think that’s gonna happen.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: It’s the New Yorker which contains the veiled threat to the Republicans to back off on this. There’s no question the Hillary camp is putting this out. “In a desperate attempt…” This story is by Kyle Drennen. No matter. It could be by any cookie cutter in the Drive-Bys. “In a desperate attempt to spin the escalating Clinton Foundation scandal as a positive for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, the New Yorker’s John Cassidy…” Oh, I’m sorry.

Kyle Drennen at NewsBusters is reporting this. “The New Yorker’s John Cassidy argued in a Wednesday article that bombshell revelations about the controversy in the new book Clinton Cash ‘could end up benefitting Hillary.'” Well, of course! You see, this the way this works. You have a bombshell book that reveals likely criminal activity on the part of the Democrat Party’s leading presidential contender, and of course it’s gonna end up benefiting Hillary. Ha! Ha!

That’s how this stuff works. And you say, “Well, how?” Well, John Cassidy at the New Yorker “argued that with ‘conservative media figures piling on’ the story, ‘the Clinton campaign will be able to portray questions about the Clinton Foundation and the family’s finances as a political witch-hunt rather than a legitimate exercise in vetting Presidential candidates.’ He further declared: ‘And if that happens, many Americans may end up dismissing the whole thing as a partisan squabble.'”

Mr. Cassidy, there’s only one problem with your convoluted thinking. Republicans have nothing to do with this. The Drive-By Media — the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Politico, USA Today, all of the favored publications and newspapers in the Drive-By Media — are leading this. It was the New York Times that made a deal with Schweizer. It was the Washington Post that made a deal with Schweizer for exclusive availability of his book.

This is not the Republican/conservative media drumming this up.

We’re getting up one day, reading the news. Here’s this new book out. Lo and behold, look what it says! We’re followers on this. We’re not leading the charge. This is actually being led by the Drive-By Media, when you get right down to it. I don’t think there’s any question about the fact that the Hillary camp is putting out talking point that the Republicans are gonna “overreach,” and this is all gonna end up looking like more of the Republican War on Women.

That’s what she is saying. That’s what they’re, no doubt, leaking. They’re hoping that that will keep the Republicans and the conservative media from talking too much about this. What they’re actually hoping to do is intimidate conservative media sites and publications and Republican elected officials into not talking about it at all. What they would really love is for there to be no talking about this, no discussion, for the issue to survive or not on its own. It’s amazing how often this trick works.

Warn Republicans, “You’ll anger the independents if you criticize Obama! You know, the American voter doesn’t want conflict.” We’ve heard all these tricks, and they work more often than they don’t.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: James in Amarillo, Texas. Great to have you, sir. Hello.

CALLER: Howdy, Rush. Mega Rush Revere dittos.

RUSH: Thank you very much, sir. Appreciate that.

CALLER: I was wandering what you thought the chances are that Hillary’s about to get the Menendez treatment.

RUSH: And get indicted?

CALLER: Sure.

RUSH: By who?

CALLER: Loretta Lynch has just been confirmed. What better way for her to prove she’s nonpartisan and above all politics by indicting a Democrat, and we all know they want to get rid of Hillary.

RUSH: Because they’d have to indict Obama, because Obama signed off to the Russian uranium deal that the Clintons brokered.

CALLER: Yeah, but maybe she didn’t tell Obama everything and she can find evidence that —

RUSH: They’re not gonna take the chance. You don’t think the Clintons have a folio on Obama, too? That’s mutual assured destruction on both sides. Now, look I don’t mean — it is entirely possible — look, folks, Mr. Snerdley may be right. This may be different. This is not being led by the Republicans. This is the Drive-By Media. I mean, you got Schweizer’s book out there, but the Drive-Bys are piling on big time, and it could well be that some of them out there really, really do want Elizabeth Warren. It could well be that many of them in the Drive-Bys really, really do not like Hillary.

She’s not Bill. She doesn’t have this psychotic, pathological charismatic hold over people. She’s just irritating. I mean, it’s entirely possible this could be an effort. But I don’t think the Regime is gonna end up indicting her. I’d love to see it, but I don’t think so.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Here’s Mia in Miami, Florida, great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. Thank you for taking my call.

RUSH: You bet.

CALLER: We were out of the country for two weeks and I turned you on on Tuesday to start catching up on our political soap opera.

RUSH: Yeah?

CALLER: And here’s my thought, because this whole thing with the Clinton-Canadian-Russian triangle —

RUSH: Right.

CALLER: My first thought was the reset button moment Hillary had. I mean, it was just an image that popped in my head. And then earlier in the show, you mentioned their hunger for money. So when this talk went down, because obviously it just didn’t happen through osmosis. I mean, and I wonder was Huma the negotiator here. Was it their arrogance or their ignorance? Because the way I see it, by giving Russia this control of uranium, and the way they’ve received that tremendous amount of money, which is totally corrupt, the question in my head is, that transaction, couldn’t it potentially put all Americans at risk? And can it not be said that it’s kind of a treasonous act, that they just thought of their gain by this? Because we’re talking about the secretary of state, who the number one interest is the safety of the citizens in this country, and the interests of the country she represents. So, you know, put everything aside about the money, yeah, but what about that whole act —

RUSH: It’s a great question, but you can’t put the money aside because the money is relevant. The money is what gives your question its power.

CALLER: Of course.

RUSH: Would she really risk putting the country at greater risk for personal enrichment? And, yeah, the answer is obviously, yeah. Whether it’s treasonous or not, Obama signed off on it. He was okay with the deal. You gotta understand, these are people, Mia, I don’t think people take me seriously or a lot of people don’t. You have to understand, these are people who believe that this country is an illegitimate and undeserved superpower. They don’t believe that we were legitimately founded. We were founded on a flawed basis because of our human rights violations and slavery and all that, mistreatment of people of color. What we did to the Indians when we got here in the first place. And they really think that this country needs to be dialed back.

Vladimir Putin wasn’t gonna be able to corner the market in uranium, but he was gonna end up being able to control quite a lot of it. I’m sure they’re sitting there thinking we’ve got all we need, and we’re not harming ourselves by letting others have some because we’ve got everything. We’ve got all the uranium we need. We can make more if we want it. So in their minds you can’t take the money out of the equation ’cause that’s why they did it.

CALLER: Well, no, I understand the money should be in the equation. Obviously that was probably their number one incentive, aside from the fact that they are power hungry people. But it’s just that, I mean, this has to come into investigation, because, really, I wouldn’t want her to be the next president to take that 3am call? She isn’t gonna take that 3am call, you know, she’s just gonna let it ring. I’m sorry, but, I mean, people have to be aware of this, and she has to be taken out of this picture because what kind of a leader do we want?

RUSH: Look, I see your point. I’ll tell you the truth, when I saw this story the first time, it’s exactly where my mind went, is this treasonous? What the hell is this? And it is borderline treasonous. You want to hear something worse? Where do you think a lot of this uranium’s gonna end up?

CALLER: Iran.

RUSH: Exactly. By way of Putin, by way of Russia.

CALLER: Of course.

RUSH: Exactly.

CALLER: Of course. But then the other thing is, I mean, you just put everything else in perspective with what the Russians are doing, okay, as far as what’s happening in Ukraine.

RUSH: Right. Well, don’t forget the North Koreans. Anybody that comes up with money, Putin will sell it to ’em.

CALLER: Well, this is true, but also, by the same token, I mean, of course, yeah, he could be also negotiating with Iran just to take us completely out of the Middle East.

RUSH: I know.

CALLER: And get rid of and do something with Israel.

RUSH: I know. I’m like you, it’s too much to get through. I can’t figure out how we ever elected people who would do anything like this.