Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Tuesday that Donald Trump is right to call for a special prosecutor to investigate the Clinton Foundation, and said the foundation’s recent moves to possibly wind down contributions show Hillary Clinton’s conscience only kicks in when people start asking questions.
“Donald Trump is right to call for a special prosecutor that can be trusted to get to the bottom of this matter,” Mr. Priebus told reporters on a conference call.
“Hillary Clinton has exhibited a pattern of deception and blatant disregard for State Department ethics guidelines, and it’s just a precursor of how she will conduct herself in the White House if elected president,” Mr. Priebus said.
Emails showing the foundation trying to use Clinton aide Huma Abedin as a go-between with the State Department were released Monday by Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group.
In a letter Monday posted to the foundation’s website, former President Clinton said if Mrs. Clinton is elected to the White House, the foundation will accept contributions only from U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and U.S.-based independent foundations.
Mr. Clinton also said he would step down from the board and no longer do fundraising for it. Mrs. Clinton’s campaign says shuttering the foundation immediately would threaten lives around the world.
But Republicans are asking why the current arrangement was good enough when Mrs. Clinton was secretary of state, as well as during her 2008 and current presidential runs.
“All of this — foreign government cash without restrictions, donations for favors, failures of disclosure — were all apparently OK not long ago, but now problematic moving forward,” Mr. Priebus said. “It just goes to show that Hillary Clinton’s conscience only kicks in when people start asking questions.”
Mr. Priebus said the Department of Justice can’t investigate themselves, and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Ray said an independent look would be appropriate.
“The basic premise is that the administration can’t investigate itself, and that would obviously pick up and include a former secretary of state,” Mr. Ray said. “But it’s even more pronounced here because the current attorney general, Loretta Lynch, has already indicated in connection with the resolution of the email server investigation that she’s compromised.”
That’s a reference to Ms. Lynch’s decision not to prosecute Mrs. Clinton for mishandling classified information through the private email system and server she used as secretary of state.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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