Shut down the Clinton Foundation: Donald Trump

WASHINGTON: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump called on 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 on Thursday, doesn’t go far enough.

The Clinton campaign has responded by seeking to portray her as more commit ted 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,” Cl inton 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 representat ive 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 characterise the charity as a pay-to-play scheme that allowed wealthy donors and foreign governments to influence Clinton when she was the top US 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 Governor Ed Rendell, a Pennsylvania Democrat who supports Clinton, according to a New York Daily News story published on Saturday.

The foundation should stop taking donations and, if Clinton is elected, it should shut down, the Boston Globe editorial board said on Tuesday.

Trump’s renewed focus on the foundation follows a week of sweeping changes to his campaign leadership as he seeks to gain ground on Clinton. She leads him in national polls by an average of 5.5 percentage points, according to RealClearPolitics.