Cotton: Clinton Foundation one of world's largest money-laundering schemes

Sen. Tom CottonThomas (Tom) Bryant CottonLawmakers introduce bill to block U.S. companies from doing business with Huawei Five things to know about Iran's breaches of the nuclear deal Hillicon Valley: Trump gets pushback after reversing course on Huawei | China installing surveillance apps on visitors' phones | Internet provider Cloudflare suffers outage | Consumer groups look to stop Facebook cryptocurrency MORE (R-Ark.) tore into the Clinton Foundation on Tuesday, comparing it to an illegal money-laundering operation. 

 

Asked on Hugh Hewitt's radio show about a Wall Street Journal report that four FBI offices were gathering information on the foundation earlier this year, the Arkansas senator speculated that a high-ranking Justice Department official is shutting down probes into the Clintons. 

 

"I suspect that was a very high-ranking Department of Justice political appointee who was carrying water for the Clinton machine and wanted to shut down an investigation into the Clinton Foundation, which increasingly looks like one of the largest money laundering and influence peddling operations in the world," Cotton said.

 

He also predicted that Democrat presidential nominee Hillary ClintonHillary Diane Rodham ClintonMatt Gaetz ahead of Mueller hearing: 'We are going to reelect the president' What to expect when Mueller testifies: Not much McConnell challenger faces tougher path after rocky launch MORE would carry out corrupt actions in the White House if the foundation isn't shut down and Clinton wins the presidential election next week and doesn't "come clean with all of its past activities."  

 

"There’s no telling the kind of corruption that you might see out of the Clinton White House. They did it in the State Department. Of course, they’re going to do it in the White House," he said. 

 

The foundation has said it would limit the scope of its activities and stop accepting foreign donations if Clinton wins the White House.

 

Cotton's remarks were part of a broader interview about the FBI's surprise decision to start a new review of emails it deemed "pertinent" to Clinton's use of a private email server during her time as secretary of State. 

 

Clinton and top Democrats have blasted the unexpected move from FBI Director James Comey, urging him to be more transparent and accusing him of influencing the election. 

 

Cotton — considered a potential 2020 GOP presidential candidate and frequent Clinton critic — said, however, that he is "not real sympathetic to the crocodile tears." 

 

"This is not an FBI or a Director Comey problem," he said. "This is a Hillary Clinton problem, and this is why so many Americans view her as untrustworthy and dishonest." 

 

Republicans are hoping the 11th-hour announcement will give them a boost in tough battles up and down the ballot.  

 

Two polls released Monday, however, showed Clinton holding her lead against Republican presidential nominee Donald TrumpDonald John TrumpUS-Saudi Arabia policy needs a dose of 'realpolitik' Trump talks to Swedish leader about rapper A$AP Rocky, offers to vouch for his bail Matt Gaetz ahead of Mueller hearing: 'We are going to reelect the president' MORE.