Posted on September 22, 2016
Source: Vox
"Hillary Clinton’s campaign and her allies have so far offered a simple defense of the Clinton Foundation — which Donald Trump, Republicans, some left-wing critics, and much of the press have characterized as a giant pay-for-play scam that the wealthy and powerful used to gain access to the Clintons.
The Clintonites assert there’s simply no evidence of a quid pro quo, no evidence of favors being given by Clinton to foundation donors. On the contrary, according to reporting thus far, the evidence that exists is of such favors being requested and denied. When foundation staffer Doug Band tried to use his ties to Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin to get a diplomatic passport for himself, he was rebuffed. When he tried to get a visa for a British soccer player, Abedin said the request made her nervous, and Band backed off.
'The fact remains that Hillary Clinton never took action as Secretary of State because of donations to the Clinton Foundation,' campaign spokesperson Josh Schwerin told the Washington Post.
'Hillary Clinton doesn't have a conflict of interest with charitable work,' campaign manager Robby Mook asserted on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. 'That's all it is.'
But some Clinton surrogates have tried a different approach: focusing on what the foundation does, rather than what it didn’t do. In August, Clinton loyalist James Carville told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that if the press succeeds in getting the foundation shut down, 'There will be people that are going to die because of this.'"
