Hillary Clinton denied that her family’s foundation engaged in conflicts of interest while she served as secretary of state, claiming during the third presidential debate Wednesday that “there is no evidence” the Clinton Foundation sold access in exchange for donations.
“Everything I did as secretary of state was in furtherance of our country’s interest and our values,” Clinton said. When she attempted to list the Clinton Foundation’s accomplishments, moderator Chris Wallace cut her off and reminded her that the question had been about allegations of a “pay to play” scheme to benefit foundation donors with access to the State Department.
Donald Trump blasted his opponent for her treatment of Clinton Foundation donors while at the State Department, calling her family’s charity a “criminal enterprise.” Trump highlighted the foundation’s acceptance of large contributions from Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern nations that abuse women.
“These are people that push gays off buildings, these are people that kill women and treat women horribly, and yet you take their money,” Trump said.
The billionaire also took Clinton to task for her mistreatment of classified material, which warranted an FBI investigation that lasted nearly a year. “She’s lied hundreds of times to the people, to Congress and to the FBI,” he said.
But Clinton rejected his argument that the law enforcement agency had manipulated its investigation so she could avoid prosecution.
“They concluded there was no case, he said the FBI was rigged,” she said. “He lost the Iowa caucus, he lost the Wisconsin primary, he said the Republican primary was rigged.”
The controversies over Clinton’s emails and her family’s foundation have clung to her campaign since its launch in April of last year. While the Democratic nominee has repeatedly attempted to shed the email scandal by conceding an error in judgment and denying wrongdoing, the FBI probe and slow trickle of document releases has allowed the allegations against her to survive.
Documents made public Monday from the FBI’s investigative file indicated a high-level State Department official attempted to broker a deal with the FBI to prevent a Benghazi-related email from being classified.
That official, Patrick Kennedy, has denied that the “quid pro quo” described in FBI documents ever took place.
But the FBI agent who, according to the notes, responded favorably to Kennedy’s overture confirmed to the Washington Post and Politico that the senior State Department staffer did indeed approach him with a request for a favor.
The White House, FBI and State Department also denied that the discussions took place.
Multiple witnesses described Kennedy’s pattern of behavior to the FBI in separate interviews conducted over several months. Allegations against him include situations where he put “pressure” on his subordinates to avoid classifying Clinton’s emails in the weeks before the FBI investigation began.
The law enforcement agency opened the criminal inquiry in response to a joint referral by two inspectors general based on the classified material they uncovered during that timeframe in summer 2015.
Clinton has battled voters’ perception of her as untrustworthy and calculating throughout the campaign, particularly when the FBI announced in July that she and her staff had demonstrated “extreme carelessness” in their handling of highly sensitive information.
Trump this week began calling on the administration to remove Kennedy from his position for his involvement in an alleged cover-up of classified information.
