Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email server and connections between the State Department and the Clinton Foundation are "not separate controversies," Sen. Tom Cotton said Thursday, and he doesn't see how anyone could read emails released this week and not conclude there was a pay-for-play plan in place.
"I don't see how you could read the emails any other way," the Arkansas Republican told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program, and he thinks the letters show a violation of an agreement Clinton made when she was appointed as secretary of state to keep the Clinton Foundation separate from her official duties.
Cotton said he also believes that Clinton had her secure server set up because "she wanted to continue to conduct Clinton Foundation business," as many donors had business with the State Department "and they got that business completed."
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, CNN reported FBI field offices had asked the Justice Department early this year to open a case to investigation the relationship between the Clinton Foundation and the State Department.
The DOJ denied the requests, saying it said it looked into similar allegations a year earlier and didn't find the evidence needed to open a case, and Cotton said he found that "surprising."
"It's surprising to me that they wouldn't allow FBI to investigate, given what we know what she said, which is not truthful, and given the indications about the links between the foundation and the State Department," he told the program.
However, Cotton said he does not know if a link can be drawn between Clinton's email controversy and the execution of an Iranian scientist, who had been discussed by her staff members in an email sent through her private server.
"It goes to show just how unwise it was for Hillary Clinton to set up that server in the first place," said Cotton. "That was the original sin. If you're the secretary of state, you inherently have to track classified information every single day. To set up an unsecured server, it's almost unavoidable you'll use classified information, as we know Hillary Clinton did."
Getting hold of the emails, though, has been "like pulling teeth for years," said Cotton, but he commented that's "really just the way the Clintons have been operating for 25 years in the public eye. They can consistently stone wall and shield everything they do from public eyes."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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