Hillary struggles, completely dodges debate question on Clinton Foundation ‘pay-to-play’

DC-NEWS 300X71By Michael Bastasch, DCNF

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton dodged a question posed by Fox News’s Chris Wallace about reports of possible “pay-to-play” arrangements between Clinton Foundation donors and the Department of State.

“During her 2009 Senate confirmation hearing, you promise to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest with your dealing with the Clinton foundation while we were secretary of state,” Wallace said to Clinton during Wednesday night’s presidential debate.

“But emails show that donors got special access to you. Those seeking grants for Haiti relief were considered separately from non-donors and some of those donors got contract government, contracts, taxpayer money. Can you really say that you capture pledge to the Senate committee and why isn’t what happened and what went on between you and the Clinton Foundation, why isn’t what Mr. Trump calls pay-to-play?” Wallace asked.

Clinton was quick to pivot and avoid answering the question, which was based on recent reports suggesting Clinton family friends were given special treatment by government officials.

“Well, everything I did as secretary of state was in furtherance of our country’s interests and our values,” Clinton said.

“The State Department has said that I think that it’s been proven, but I am happy, in fact I’m thrilled, to talk about the Clinton Foundation because it is a world renowned charity and I am so proud of the work that it does,” she said.

“You know I could talk for the rest of the debate,” she added. “I know I don’t have the time to do that. But just briefly the Clinton Foundation made a possible for 11 million people around the world with HIV-AIDS to afford treatment, and that’s about half of all the people in the world for getting treatment. In partnership with the American Health Association, we have made environments and schools healthier.”

The Clinton Foundation has come under fire in recent years for taking money from foreign donors while Clinton served as secretary of state in the Obama administration. Recent news reports suggest foundation donors were also given special consideration for State Department programs.

ABC News recently reported “a series of candid email exchanges with top Clinton Foundation officials during the hours after the massive 2010 Haiti earthquake” a senior Clinton aide at the Department of State “repeatedly gave special attention to those identified by the abbreviations ‘FOB’ (friends of Bill Clinton) or ‘WJC VIPs’ (William Jefferson Clinton VIPs).”

“Need you to flag when people are friends of WJC,” Caitlin Klevorick, who was a senior State Department official, wrote in an email to government employees. “Most I can probably ID but not all.”

Emails released by WikiLeaks from Clinton campaign manager John Podesta’s Gmail account show the Clinton Foundation hired an outside firm to conduct a “governance review” in 2010 that found many donors had “an expectation of a quid pro quo benefits in return for gifts.”

Follow Michael on Facebook and Twitter

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW

Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!

Success! Thank you for donating. Please share BPR content to help combat the lies.

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

BPR INSIDER COMMENTS

Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!

Latest Articles