Hillary Clinton could be indicted for her use of a private email server to send classified documents while she was serving as Secretary of State, and discussed the state of New York suing Donald Trump for fraud, over a $40 million real estate school that Attorney General Eric Schneiderman called a "sham for-profit university."
Loud and Clear host Brian Becker asked Akin, "Is it unusual that the two leading candidates of the Democrat and Republican Parties are going into the general election having a cloud of corruption allegations hanging over them?"
"Well, historically speaking it’s not all that unusual, because top players in our political system have long been engaged in corrupt activities with big corporations and rich folks that goes back a long ways." Akin said. He pointed to Clinton’s time as a board member for Walmart as evidence of corporate collusion.
"When you think about corporations that rip people off, that damage the American economy, Wal Mart has to be near the top of the list, because they’ve kept wages down and have conducted a completely illegal campaign to keep any of their workers from being represented by unions."
Puryear added that Clinton’s questionable business ethics are part of a pattern that goes back decades.
"There’s a long history of things that Hilary Clinton has done around issues of financial and business malfeasance where there has never been any charges." He said, "It goes back to the controversy over her improperly trading cattle futures in the late 1970s, the Whitewater land deal."
Becker spoke about the recently-leaked Panama Papers, noting that Trump’s name appears in the financial documents 3,540 times.
"[Trump] talks about making America great again, but really it’s just a smoke and mirrors sales pitch to the American people. He is a part of the 1%, or the.0001%, that has done so much to keep half of this country either in poverty or near poverty," Becker said.
Akin responded: "Donald Trump is using as one of his talking points the fact that he’s been deeply involved in corruption and so he understands it and can fight it. Although he has no particular motive to fight it, since he’s made so much money from it over the years."
Becker noted how the Bernie Sanders campaign, Clinton’s persistent rival, has called for progressive reform and politicized many young people. Despite this, Sanders has stated that, should he not receive the Democratic nomination, he will advise his supporters to vote for Clinton.
"Why would Sanders tell supporters to vote for Hillary when she and Trump have so much in common?" Becker asked Puryear.
"It’s the price of admission for Sanders to have ongoing influence inside the Democratic Party" Puryear said, "He has to do something to endear himself to the party establishment, which has been willing to accept his challenge only under the [condition] that he brings people back into the big tent."
Becker highlighted that Clinton and Trump share corporate office space in Delaware, a well-known tax haven for big business, saying "Even though they’re hurling insults at each other…when it comes to shielding their money from tax liability, they’re doing the same thing."
Akin responded, "It’s just part of the corporate corruption that dominates our economy and dominates our politics, and I’m sorry to say that both those candidates are head deep in it.'
