The Boston Globe has called for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton to immediately cut donations to the Clinton Foundation, and then shut down the non-profit if she becomes president.
“Although the charity founded by former President Bill Clinton has done admirable work over the last 15 years, the Clinton Foundation is also now clearly a liability for Hillary Clinton as she seeks the presidency in 2016,” the editorial board argued Tuesday. “The once-and-maybe-future first family will have plenty to keep them busy next year if Hillary Clinton defeats Donald Trump in November. The foundation should remove a political — and actual — distraction and stop accepting funding. If Clinton is elected, the foundation should be shut down.”
Clinton continued her work at the Clinton Foundation while serving as secretary of state in the Obama administration. Released emails seem to indicate she wasn’t able to keep her roles adequately separate.
The damage caused by the fluidity between roles would be unbelievably magnified, were she to become president.
“[I]f the Clinton Foundation continues to cash checks from foreign governments and other individuals seeking to ingratiate themselves to a President Hillary Clinton, it would be unacceptable.”
The Washington Post editorial board Sunday made some similar points to the Boston Globe, noting that while emails don’t seem to support the claim the Clinton Foundation was a “pay-to-play operation,” there was a clear breakdown in the ethical wall between her job as secretary of state and her work with the Clinton Foundation.
It’s not even necessary in the process of closing the Clinton Foundation to ruin charity efforts. Assets could simply be transferred to some other foundation with similar work, or the Clintons could re-open the foundation after her term or terms in the White House were done.
“If the foundation’s donors are truly motivated by altruism, and not by the lure of access to the Clintons, then surely they can find other ways to support the foundation’s goals,” the board said.
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