Paul calls for investigation into ‘Clinton Cash’ allegations

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Monday called for a congressional investigation into whether donations to the Clinton Foundation influenced Hillary Clinton’s conduct while leading the State Department.

“I’ve talked to people in the Senate about whether or not there will be investigation,” Paul said on Fox News’s “Fox and Friends.”

“I favor an investigation of this because we need to know that if you are going to elect someone to be president of the United States, if they’ve been accepting gifts that may influence them.”

Paul has been a frequent critic of Clinton, targeting her with his “Liberty Not Hillary” campaign. The Democratic 2016 front-runner has been dogged by accusations that Clinton Foundation donations impacted her public actions. The criticism has been compounded by the release of a controversial new book, Clinton Cash, by Peter Schweizer.

The freshman senator and fellow White House hopeful said the connections from the book have the “appearance of impropriety.”

“You have to have trust in your commander in chief that they wouldn’t sell the country,” he said.

But Democrats and Clinton allies have swatted down the book as politically motivated, noting the author’s ties to conservative groups.

Brian Fallon, a Clinton spokesman, told The New York Times that no one “has ever produced a shred of evidence supporting the theory that Hillary Clinton ever took action as secretary of state to support the interests of donors to the Clinton Foundation.”

Correct the Record, a pro-Clinton group, dismissed Paul as “calling for a political sideshow to distract from his own bad record.”

“The Clinton Foundation has been doing good here and around the world — battling malaria in Africa, expanding early education in the United States, and more — all while going above and beyond to voluntarily disclose donations on their website.”

— This story was updated at 10:23 a.m. on April 27.