Water Resources Development Act of 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, this summer the American people have heard a lot about Secretary Clinton and how she went to great lengths to set up a private email server in violation of Federal law and accepted protocols not only at the State Department but in the U.S. Government.

In early July FBI Director Comey announced findings from the Bureau's investigation into her server that confirmed what many people knew all along; that is, that Secretary Clinton simply misled the American people about it from day one. She didn't tell the truth, and she tried to cover it up.

Contrary to her previous statements from her and her staff, Secretary Clinton did send and receive classified information on her private email server, including some at the very highest levels of classification. We learned that, contrary to her representations, her server did not provide adequate security, leaving sensitive information vulnerable to our Nation's enemies. We also learned that neither she nor her lawyers really actually reviewed the emails to determine whether they were work-related and needed to be turned over to the State Department and the Federal courts under our freedom of information laws. And we learned that she didn't give the authorities full access to all of her work-related emails. In fact, Director Comey said the FBI discovered thousands of emails that she simply had not produced even though she was required to do so.

All of this may seem like old news, but the fact is, it is simply unacceptable. I am glad the FBI released much of its investigation on Friday, but, as was observed by a number of people, this was sort of a typical Washington news dump--get it out on Friday and hope that by Monday morning, people have moved on to other things or forgotten about it.

But these regular scandals that seem to be associated with the Clintons--while they addressed the emails, they obviously evidenced contempt for our freedom of information laws and the kind of transparency that President Obama touted when he became President and spoke about on the day of his inauguration on January 20, 2009--most of the American people have come to believe they simply can't trust Secretary Clinton. According to a recent CNN poll, about 70 percent said that she isn't honest and trustworthy--almost 70 percent, which is an astoundingly high number. But I really can't blame folks. In fact, Secretary Clinton has no one else to blame but herself.

Unfortunately, Director Comey's announcement back in the July wasn't the end of the story, though, because last month even more emails came to light that revealed the line blurred between the Clinton Foundation and the State Department under Secretary Clinton. Many of the new emails were between top Clinton aides and an executive at the Clinton Foundation requesting favors of Secretary Clinton in her official capacity. There is a lot of information out there, but I have just highlighted about three of the items here.

One exchange requests a meeting between Secretary Clinton and the Crown Prince of Bahrain. According to the emails, after the Clinton Foundation staffer intervened, a meeting was quickly put together. The Washington Post has noted that the Crown Prince spent upwards of $32 million on an education program connected with--you guessed it--the Clinton Foundation.

Another is from a person whom we will identify as just a sports executive trying to get an expedited visa for a British soccer player. He donated between $5 million and $10 million to the Clinton Foundation.

Several other requests were for last-minute meetings and other favors, including one business executive who apparently got quick access to Secretary Clinton. He donated between $5 million and $10 million to the Clinton Foundation.

So what do all of these examples have in common? Obviously they are asking for help through Secretary Clinton's direct line at the State Department and they gave millions of dollars to the foundation. These obviously were big-time donors.

Let me add that I don't know a lot about the details involving these donations because the Clinton Foundation doesn't provide the date and exact amount but just ranges.

Here is the point: Secretary Clinton and her team were quick to prioritize these big donors and respond to them quickly and even, if possible, follow through with whatever request was made of them. It is clear that major Clinton Foundation donors enjoyed great access to Secretary Clinton while she was serving as our Nation's premier diplomat. The Clinton Foundation interfered with official day-to-day work at the State Department when the Secretary and her staff should have been focused on keeping Americans safe and making sound foreign policy.

One of the reasons I bring this up today is that this was an original concern of mine before Secretary Clinton was even confirmed as Secretary of State. I told then- Secretary Nominee Clinton that we needed greater transparency and we needed more assurances as to the integrity of this whole arrangement. When I questioned her about it, I was assured by Secretary Clinton herself that the Clinton Foundation would take steps necessary to mitigate my concerns about conflicts of interest and perceived conflicts of interest.

I would note that this was not just my concern; it was a concern raised by the then-chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Richard Lugar. It was also raised by President Obama and his White House itself. And what was produced out of those concerns was a very lawyerly-like memorandum of understanding between the Clinton Foundation and the Obama administration. In fact, I believe this is a precondition to Secretary Clinton getting the nomination from President Obama, because he didn't want the conflicts of interest that he knew could arise as a result of the foundation's activities to impugn the integrity of the Obama administration.

This memorandum of understanding assured the President and the American people that the foundation would follow certain transparency measures to make sure that Secretary Clinton conducted American diplomacy with the utmost integrity. In doing so, the foundation agreed it would make public the names of all donors, including new ones.

What was the result? In the ensuing years, Secretary Clinton and her family foundation made a habit of regularly crossing the lines that were drawn in that memorandum of understanding and with her verbal arrangements and understanding with me. Even though the foundation agreed to disclose all foreign donations--this is from foreign countries to a family foundation run, in part, by the Secretary of State of the U.S. Government. So even though they agreed to disclose all foreign contributions, they didn't, and even though some foreign donations were supposed to be submitted for review to the State Department, they weren't.

According to reports, at least one organization within the foundation failed to annually disclose its list of donors, and today the American people still lack basic information about many of the donations, like the exact amounts that were donated to the foundation, as I already mentioned.

I don't know anybody who feels comfortable with or who can defend these obvious conflicts of interest between the Secretary of State representing the United States and her family foundation soliciting and receiving multimillion-dollar donations from heads of state of foreign countries, not to mention other people who obviously were trying to get the help of Secretary Clinton in some official capacity. Secretary Clinton was performing her job as Secretary of State, and at the same time, the Clinton Foundation was shaking down donors who at least thought they were buying access. I don't know how to describe that in any other terms other than it is deplorable and it completely undercuts the integrity of our democratic process.

This isn't funny, as former President Clinton suggested. Lying to the American people doesn't make you some kind of Robin Hood either, as he claimed to be. He said the only difference between him and Robin Hood is he didn't steal from anybody.

Well, this whole scandal further underscores the Clinton philosophy that anything goes. She clearly feels like the laws that apply to you and me don't apply to her, and it is no wonder the American people have come to distrust her and believe that she is simply incapable in many instances of telling the truth.

I hope the American people keep asking questions of Secretary Clinton and her foundation, and I hope soon that we all get some answers. The American people deserve complete unobstructed transparency into this matter, and it is clear they won't get that from Secretary Clinton herself.

Regarding the vote to confirm Secretary Clinton, it did occur. In reliance upon her assurances of transparency and to maintain the independence of her office of Secretary of State from the activities of the foundation, I, among many others of my colleagues, voted to confirm Secretary Clinton as Secretary of State, but my belief today is that she simply did not keep up her end of the bargain. Thus, if that vote were held today, I could not and would not vote to confirm her as Secretary of State.

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