Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Monday said the Clinton Foundation should be “shut down immediately” and that money should be given back.
“Number one, they should shut it down,” Mr. Trump said on “Fox and Friends.” “Number two, they should give the money back to a lot of countries that we shouldn’t be taking and they shouldn’t be taking money from — countries that influenced her totally.”
“And also countries that discriminate against women and gays and everybody else. I mean, that money should be given back. They should not take that money,” he said.
Last week, the Clinton Foundation announced it would be dialing back its foreign and corporate donations if Mrs. Clinton is elected president, leading some to wonder why such an arrangement was seemingly above board when Mrs. Clinton was serving as the nation’s top diplomat and while she’s running for president.
“It should happen. Whether or not it will — they’re very greedy people, so maybe it won’t, but it should happen,” Mr. Trump said.
In a separate statement issued by his campaign Monday, Mr. Trump called the Clinton Foundation “the most corrupt enterprise in political history.”
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“What they were doing during Crooked Hillary’s time as secretary of state was wrong then, and it is wrong now. It must be shut down immediately,” Mr. Trump said.
The Clinton campaign responded by saying the foundation has already laid out the “unprecedented steps” it will take if Mrs. Clinton is elected president.
Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta also said that Mr. Trump has his own questions to answer about for-profit businesses that are in debt to big banks like the Bank of China and other business groups “with ties to the Kremlin,” and reiterated the campaign’s call for Mr. Trump to release his tax returns.
“He must commit to fully divesting himself from all of his business conflicts to ensure that he is not letting his own financial interests affect decisions made by his potential administration,” Mr. Podesta said.
Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook also said Sunday that to instantly pull the plug on the foundation would literally threaten lives around the world.
“Millions of people around the world depend on life saving health treatments that the foundation provides, so just pulling the plug on that literally would threaten lives around the globe,” Mr. Mook said on ABC’s “This Week.”
“So, the foundation is in the process figuring out how to refocus, re-shift,” he said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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