Trump urges immediate shutdown of Clinton Foundation
WASHINGTON _ Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump called Monday for the Clinton Foundation to shut down immediately as questions about the philanthropy dog Democrat Hillary Clinton's campaign.
"The Clintons have spent decades as insiders lining their own pockets and taking care of donors instead of the American people," Trump said in a statement. "It is now clear that the Clinton Foundation is the most corrupt enterprise in political history."
Trump is the latest critic to say the foundation's plan to bar foreign and corporate donations if Clinton is elected president in November, which was announced Thursday, doesn't go far enough.
The Clinton campaign has responded by seeking to portray her as more committed to transparency _ and to charity _ than Trump is.
"The Clinton Foundation is a charity that helps people around the world. It's already announced major steps it'll take if Clinton wins," Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said on Twitter. "Trump's businesses exist to enrich himself, involve a web of shady connections, & still he hasn't committed to divesting his holdings."
A representative for the foundation didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Leading Republicans aren't the only ones saying the foundation's plan falls short. The GOP has sought to characterize the charity as a pay-to-play scheme that allowed wealthy donors and foreign governments to influence Clinton when she was the top U.S. diplomat from 2009-2013.
"It'd be impossible to keep the foundation open without at least the appearance of a problem" if Clinton is elected, said former Gov. Ed Rendell, a Pennsylvania Democrat who supports Clinton, according to a New York Daily News story published Saturday.
The foundation should stop taking donations and, if Clinton is elected, it should shut down, the Boston Globe editorial board said Tuesday.
_Bloomberg News
