Former White House special counsel Lanny Davis on Sunday argued that a controversial book about the Clintons’ money trail makes connections where none exist.
{mosads}Davis said author Peter Schweizer’s Clinton Cash unfairly characterized moves made by the Clinton Foundation.
In particular, he claimed, were misleading ties drawn between former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the nonprofit organization bearing their name.
“I don’t use the word coincidence,” Davis said of the charges on “Fox News Sunday.”
“Of course, it’s a coincidence, but it’s a false inference,” he added.
“It sounds like, if two incidents occur side by side, like the rooster crows and then the sun rises, it’s a coincidence that the sun rises after the rooster crows,” Davis, a Hill columnist, added.
“The rooster doesn’t cause the sun to rise,” he concluded.
Davis said Schweizer had inflated the connection between Hillary Clinton’s State Department and her husband’s speaking fees. The two halves did not make one whole, he charged.
“I can tell you that Bill Clinton has nothing to do and religiously had a wall between himself and Secretary Clinton when she was secretary of State,” Davis claimed.
Clinton Cash alleges that the Clinton Foundation accepted donations from foreign entities so they could gain favors from State during Hillary Clinton’s tenure there.
“You see this pattern of benefit,” Schweizer told host Chris Wallace during his own “Fox News Sunday” appearance.
“The facts are the facts,” he argued. “To me, this is a trend.”
Schweizer’s book is available in stores starting May 5. Its release coincides with the launch of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 Democratic presidential campaign.
The Clinton Foundation on Thursday announced it was refiling several of its tax returns and auditing others in an attempt at transparency.
The Clintons’ daughter, Chelsea Clinton, also rushed to her parents’ defense the same day.
“The work will continue as it is,” the foundation’s vice chairwoman said.