On Smerconish, David Brock Says Major Media Outlets Concluded “There’s No There, There” From Clinton Cash
Brock: If This Is “Donald Trump's Playbook ... He's Going To Come Up Short Just As The Author Of This Book Came Up Short A Year Ago”
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published
From the June 11 edition of CNN's Smerconish:
MICHAEL SMERCONISH (HOST): Respond to what you just heard from [Clinton Cash author] Peter [Schweizer].
DAVID BROCK: Look, I think these charges were aired more than a year ago. A lot -- you know, every major media outlet in the country that I could see looked into the allegations raised in the book, to the questions that were raised, and they all concluded, I think what you just established in your interview, that there's no there, there. That there's no evidence that the money influenced decisions. And in fact, in the specifics that are raised on the uranium case and the interagency process, the appointee in that interagency process from State says they never spoke to Hillary Clinton about it. So on the facts, it's just wrong. But I think the bigger question is, you know, you led with Donald Trump. Is this Donald Trump's playbook? And if it is, he's going to come up short just as the author of this book came up short a year ago. Donald Trump is certainly the wrong messenger for anti-corruption story. And the Clinton Foundation tried to help people in need. Look at that compared to Trump University and the scam that was pulled.
SMERCONISH: Let me say this, because I want to be devil's advocate with you in the same way that I was with Peter. I know he gets portrayed as a stooge for the Koch brothers, but what I remember about the rollout of the book, which I took the time to read, is that both The Washington Post, The New York Times, and ABC all built on his reporting.
BROCK: They did. Sure. And in fact, they built on it, but what did they come up with? They didn't come up with anything more than he came up with. The book was taken seriously by mainstream media. Look, Rupert Murdock's Wall Street Journal took leads from the book and looked in it for months and found quote, “no wrongdoing.” So the book has been aired, that's my point. It's had its day in the sun and it did nothing.
SMERCONISH: I know that you lose people in the details of these cases, but what I remember from that chapter on the uranium deal is that Bill Clinton spoke I think in 2011 in Russia. Got paid $500k. The last time he spoke there, his fee was $195k. And there was a tie between the group that brought him in, who had a piece of the uranium deal, and a connection of Vladimir Putin. You look at that sort of thing and you say, well, is there a causal connection? I don't know what the answer is.
BROCK: I don't think you can -- I mean, I've written books, I don't think as the author said at the time, you can't just raise questions and provide no answers. I think that's innuendo. And I thinkthat's what we're dealing with here. And that’s why I think that if Donald Trump relies on it he's going to regret it.
SMERCONISH: Maybe he's taken it as far as anyone can take it. Here's what I'm saying. Let me be very blunt with David Brock. I don't put Peter Schweizer and Clinton Cash, the title of the book, in the same category of all that crap about Vince Foster.
BROCK: Sure, I don't either, and I didn't say that.
SMERCONSIH: OK, so how then will the secretary respond this week if he gives that speech on Monday? Is there some rapid response that's going to come into play?
BROCK: Well, sure there is. I don't know how the secretary herself is going to respond. I tell you how we're going to respond.
SMERCONISH: Tell me, please.
BROCK: One, we're going to fact-check that speech in real time. And we know that Donald Trump is factually challenged, if nothing else. The things he's thrown out about the Clintons to date have come out of just scurrilous tabloids. I don't know if he's going to use this book as part of his playbook, but we're going to fact-check him in real time. And then we're going to raise the issues that need to be raised about Donald Trump as a messenger on corruption. The Politico did an investigation just a few weeks ago, found ties to organized crime, to the Russian mob. Let's talk about his foreign ties. Who are his foreign investors? He wants to talk about -- you know, the reason we know all this about the Clinton Foundation is they are 100 percent transparent. Where are Donald Trump's tax returns? That's what we're going to see on Monday, Michael.
SMERCONISH: Final question, in retrospect with the initiative, the Clinton Initiative have been better taking no foreign money so there wouldn't be these questions?
BROCK: I think you have to take foreign money. It's a global initiative. And I think you have to take the foreign money. And I think the protocols were set up at the State Deptartment and they were followed.
Previously:
Twenty-Plus Errors, Fabrications, And Distortions In Peter Schweizer's Clinton Cash
Clinton Cash Author Peter Schweizer's Long History Of Errors, Retractions, And Questionable Sourcing