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DONALD TRUMP HAS demanded that Hillary Clinton shut down the charitable foundation founded by her husband, former US president Bill Clinton, branding it a “corrupt enterprise”.
The Republican presidential candidate also called for a special prosecutor to investigate his Democratic rival, accusing the FBI and Justice Department of a “whitewash” during their probe of her use of a private email server while secretary of state.
“The amounts involved, the favours done and the significant number of times it was done require an expedited investigation by a special prosecutor immediately, immediately, immediately,” Trump told a rally in Akron, Ohio, speaking of the State Department under Clinton.
The crowd responded with rowdy chants of: “Lock her up! Lock her up!”
In an earlier statement, Trump called the Clinton Foundation “the most corrupt enterprise in political history”.
The charity has raised some $2 billion (€1.8 billion) since it was founded in 2001 after Bill Clinton left office.
“It must be shut down immediately,” Trump said.
The Republican nominee said the foundation had received financial contributions from various countries “that discriminated against women and gays and everybody else”.
That remark apparently referred to various nations seen as having checkered histories on human rights, Saudi Arabia among them, that made generous donations to the foundation when Clinton, now the Democratic presidential nominee, served as President Barack Obama’s secretary of state between 2009 and 2013.
“I mean, that money – it should be given back. They should not take that money,” Trump told Fox.
‘People are gonna die’
James Carville, Bill Clinton’s top strategist in his ultimately successful campaign for the presidency in the 1990s, warned of dire consequences should Trump and his supporters manage to shutter the foundation.
“There will be people that are gonna die because of this,” Carville told CNN, estimating that the foundation helped around 10 million people get access to low-cost HIV drugs.
All of the people that helped shut it down will say, ‘Gee, some people, a million people, had to die, but we had to prove a point’.
The Clinton Foundation disburses funds domestically and overseas, handing out some $218 million (€1.9 million) in 2014.
A firewall was supposed to have been in place to ensure that the foundation’s work remained completely separate from Hillary Clinton’s role as head of US diplomacy, but critics said that barrier was permeable at best.
Newly released Clinton emails
Meanwhile, nearly 15,000 emails Hillary Clinton sent from her private server while secretary of state were released, and raised fresh concerns about potential conflicts of interest between the foundation and her service as the top US diplomat.
Judicial Watch, a conservative group that has targeted Clinton for years, released the emails, including some purporting to show that various donors to the Clinton Foundation had lobbied one of her top aides, Huma Abedin, for access to the former first lady.
The emails were made public by a judge after the group filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
The newly released email exchanges appeared to show that a rich donor, Casey Wasserman, asked Bill Clinton aide Doug Band to contact Abedin for help in setting up a meeting with diplomatic officials in London, raising fresh questions about special favors for top Clinton Foundation donors.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the Federal Bureau of Investigation had handed over about 14,900 new emails to the department, both personal and government-related, that would be made public.
“There was nothing that we have seen that implied any kind of untoward relationship” giving a donor to the Foundation privileged access to the then-secretary of state, he said.
Concerns were recently revived after emails surfaced showing that Band had contacted two senior State Department aides of Hillary Clinton, seeking their assistance in helping a donor – Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire Gilbert Chagoury – to secure a meeting with a US diplomat in Lebanon.
Bill Clinton sought to tamp down the controversy, announcing last week that – if his wife is elected president in November – the Clinton Foundation would no longer accept foreign or corporate donations, and he would step down from the board.
The former president said additional measures would also be taken under a Hillary Clinton presidency to make sure some programs are continued independently.
“Much of the foundation’s international work, like that of most global NGOs, is funded in part by donor governments’ bilateral aid programs. If Hillary is elected, we will transition those programs out of the foundation to other organisations committed to continuing their work,” Bill Clinton said.
Robby Mook, Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign manager, told CNN on Sunday that the additional safeguards were “unprecedented… in terms of disclosure and limits”.
How much has the cost of living increased in Ireland since 2006? Does anyone know? Would be interesting to see this in the context of job losses & wage cuts. Our labour force is taking the brunt of the last six budgets to ‘improve competitiveness’ which is code for ‘make them poorer’. This is sadly not a conspiracy theory, it’s simply austerity.
Rubbish.
Higher prices mean people will demand less not more.
If you wanna increase “consumer spending” why not lower the cost?
I’m tired of this type of demagoguery.
Since 2006:
2006: 3.9%
2007: 4.9%
2008: 4.1%
2009: -4.5%
2010: -1.6%
2011: 2.6%
Thanks Gavan, I appreciate that. This trend allied with pay cuts & increased taxes explains in stark numbers why so many are struggling to make ends meet. Something has gotta give.
Almost 12% since 2006 and recall that should be compounded, so it’s actually more.
And these are fudged govt numbers, no doubt.
“All fiat currencies return to their intrinsic value — zero” – Voltaire
If debt remains the same in relaton to the rate of inflation then in effect it shrinks the debt. Considering the countrys massive level if indebtness inflation may allow us to outgrow our debts. Low levels of inflation actually plays in to the hands of the likes of Germany by keeping their cost base artificially low making it more competitiive in markets like China Etc.
But Keith, at the cost of who? The poor and the old?
The cost of those about to retire as they see the value of their funds decline in relation to living costs and those with savings.
@Michael: Compounded, the interest rate between 1/1/2006 and 31/12/2011 is 9.39%.
That is to say, the average product that cost €100 at the start of 2006 cost €109.39 at the end of 2011.
And this year brings it to…111.80?
That means purchasing power (and savings) has been reduced by a little more than 10% in 6 years.
10% increase in the price of food, fuel and commodities? What planet are they on???
“You can fool some people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time”
This system has to stop.
Best image caption ever Gavin!!
Why do we continue to squeeze the poor and middle class with inflation? 2.2% is high. What is wrong with deflation? Give the people on fixed incomes a chance? Lower prices of basic commodities? Relieve the pressure on gold?
Thus love of inflation makes me sick. Stop the money printing to afford these entitlements. Balance the budget.
Bring back sanity? Not Keynesian NONSENSE.
We already have one of the most expensive electricity and gas prices range from 30-45% higher than Europe.internet Broadband is amongst the most expensive monthly and slowest broadband to most European countries.ready to go top ups also the most expensive with the least amount of minutes.car prices 30% higher than other EURO countries.all of these major factors added to higher transport cost of public and private usage and we could really see how much we’re being screwed by a government and Europe.
Those who own the printing presses use inflation to keep the citizens enslaved in debt, too busy to ask questions like who owns the Federal Reserve bank in America.
have your say