Republicans and Democrats sparred Sunday over whether Hillary Clinton crossed ethical lines during her tenure as secretary of state by talking with people outside the government who had contributed to her family’s philanthropy foundation. Clinton rejected these accusations and said that her work is not determined by external influences, but by the goal of ensuring the safety of Americans.
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“I think the Federal Bureau of Investigation should provide the Congress, and consequently the public, an unclassified version that can be released of the report that they had”, the Utah Republican said in an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation”. It’s not pay-to-play, unless somebody actually gave someone 50 cents to say, “I need a meeting'”. Salman’s scholarship program by 2010 committed more than $32 million to the Clinton Global Initiative.
“This (foundation) becomes a conduit for people to gain access, and gaining access is a favor”, Pence told CNN’s “State of the Union”.
The latest bunch of Clinton-era State Department emails released last week provide a host of instances in which donations to the Clinton Foundation netted the donors access to the secretary herself on an expedited basis. In addition, after struggling to obtain some of Clinton’s calendar entries, The Associated Press reported this week that more than half the meetings she had as secretary of state with non-government individuals were donors to her family’s foundation: “It’s an extraordinary proportion”, the AP story began.
Clinton, who is leading in the polls, has come under withering scrutiny over whether Clinton Foundation donors received favored access at the State Department while she was secretary of state during President Barack Obama’s first term. When reports broke a year ago that she’d set up a parallel email system at home, she said: “I responded right away and provided all my emails that could possibly be work-related, which totalled roughly 55,000 printed pages”.
All that is needed now, to bring us to an independent counsel, is calls for the FBI to reopen and broaden its investigation in light of all that has been revealed since Director Comey said there was not evidence enough to recommend an indictment. “I believe my aides also acted appropriately”, she said on MSNBC.
These emails are separate from the 55,000-plus pages of documentation Clinton campaign previously, and voluntarily, turned over to investigators earlier this year.
In addition to private contributors, the AP says Clinton met with representatives of 16 foreign governments that donated $170 million to Clinton charities.
Stelter, Byers and others are sending a message to every other journalist: Do anything that might harm Hillary Clinton’s chances of winning the election in November, and you can kiss your journalism career goodbye. “That is absurd”, Clinton said. She promised during confirmation hearings to abide by transparency rules and avoid any conflicts of interest. It sued successfully in federal court to get them after being stonewalled by State. At this time, we have not confirmed that the documents are, in fact, responsive. They’ve shown a lack of propriety and caution.
Abedin has taken fire for holding simultaneous positions at the Clinton Foundation and the State Department, a situation that presented her with numerous conflicts of interest.
The Clinton Foundation is a legitimate charitable organization.
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According to Newsmax, there are several watchdog groups who have also warned that a Clinton Foundation scandal could be detrimental to her presidential run.
