Two Senators Briefed on Clinton Cash Book Before Release
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Andre Nantel/Hemera/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — At least two senators – Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tennessee, and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky – have been briefed on the Clinton Cash book, ABC News has learned.
Corker, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told ABC News he was briefed by the book’s author, Peter Schweizer, two or three weeks ago. The briefing was conducted in Corker’s Senate office and consisted of a slideshow presentation.
Corker said he was the only lawmaker in the briefing, and it was not conducted through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“Somebody sent me an e-mail and said that, you know, that he was in town and thought it would be worth my while to listen,” Corker said. “It was just me.”
Asked about the contents of the briefing, Corker only said, “I saw it, he seemed like he had done a lot of research, and but I don’t have any comment beyond that.”
Senator Rand Paul was also briefed on the book, but his aides repeatedly declined to provide any information about who conducted the briefing, what was said, where it was conducted, etc.
On Sunday, The New York Times wrote that members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee were briefed on the book, leaving many wondering who exactly was briefed.
“Members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which includes Mr. Paul and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, have been briefed on the book’s findings, and its contents have already made their way into several of the Republican presidential candidates’ campaigns,” the NYT wrote.
ABC News reached out to all of the senators on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and only Corker and Paul confirmed they were briefed. Five Republicans and five Democrats on the committee said they did not receive a briefing.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, one of Hillary Clinton’s strongest defenders in the Senate, said any briefing “was clearly partisan in nature.”
“Today’s New York Times reported that members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee were briefed on the latest anti-Hillary Clinton book. As the longest serving member of the Committee, I was never briefed on the book and I know of no other Democrats on the Committee who were briefed on it,” Boxer said. “So if there was a briefing, it was clearly partisan in nature.”
“This is just another vicious, partisan and unfounded attack on Hillary Clinton,” she added.
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