She also shot down an AP story that claimed more than half of the meetings she took with people outside the government while secretary of State were with foundation donors.
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Former President Bill Clinton said Wednesday that he’s proud of people who have donated to the Clinton Foundation and the work the organization has done, as he waded into a dispute that Republicans are hoping will damage his wife’s presidential campaign.
The already-biting personal attacks between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump escalated Wednesday, with the Democratic nominee accusing her rival of leading a “hate movement” and Trump labeling Clinton a “bigot”.
A little over an hour earlier in Jackson, Mississippi, Trump issued his bluntest and most provocative characterization yet of Clinton as part of his accusations that she treats minorities, and black people in particular, simply as votes to be counted.
Before her interview, Clinton had largely ignored Trump’s criticism of the foundation, with campaign officials figuring her late-summer advantage gives her few incentives to personally push back against the email criticism or allegations of pay-for-play.
On Tuesday, the Associated Press published an analysis of previously unreleased schedules, which showed that numerous people outside of government that Clinton met during her tenure at the State Department had donated to the foundation.
Clinton said she would not “litigate in public” her “private conversations” with Powell.
On Monday, the State Department said it was reviewing almost 15,000 previously undisclosed emails recovered as part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation inquiry, which was closed after investigators recommended against criminal charges. “If there’s something wrong with creating jobs and saving lives, I don’t know what it is”.
She said the AP’s reporting was out of context, as it excluded “nearly 2,000 meetings” that Clinton had with world leaders “plus countless other meetings” with US government officials while she was serving as Secretary. “That is absurd”, she said.
Hillary Clinton is sidestepping new questions about almost 15,000 recently discovered emails or her family’s charitable foundation – a stay-the-course strategy sure to be tested in the sprint to Election Day. “If any American voter is troubled by the idea that the Clintons want to continue working to solve the AIDS crisis on the side while Hillary Clinton is president, then don’t vote for her”.
“We’ll have to do more than when she was secretary of state, because if you make a mistake there’s always appeal to the White House if you’re secretary of state”, Clinton said.
“When I try to explain what happened, it can sound like I’m trying to excuse what I did”, she said. “And there are no excuses”.
Bill Clinton said changes at the foundation are needed if Hillary Clinton becomes president that weren’t necessary when she led the State Department. The meeting is scheduled for September 19-21, which means it will happen exactly one week before his wife’s first presidential debate in NY.
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Lucey reported from Des Moines, Iowa.
