Rendell: Disband Clinton Foundation (If Hillary Wins)
Ed Rendell has been an enjoyable sideshow this campaign season: He’s essentially retired from politics — he’s not going to run for anything again — so he’s pretty much allowed to say whatever he wants. He can go off message. He can say “there are some things that Donald Trump talks about that do have a germ of reason or a germ of truth,” or mention on a radio show the FBI’s findings have damaged Clinton, or he can tell Buzzfeed the Democrats are $10 million short for the DNC. Rendell has commented several times to Buzzfeed, in fact! He is the world’s oldest millennial.
Today, Rendell is talking to the New York Daily News about the Clinton Foundation.
“I definitely think if she wins the presidency they have to disband it. I know it’ll be hard for President (Bill) Clinton because he cares very deeply about what the foundation has done,” former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a close Clinton ally, told the Daily News. “It’d be impossible to keep the foundation open without at least the appearance of a problem.”
Rendell, who served as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee during Clinton’s presidency and stays in regular contact with the former President, said the Clinton Foundation and Clinton Global Initiative would, at the very least, “have to go into a period of inactivity” during her time in office to avoid the types of headaches she’s faced for the duration of her campaign.
The Clinton Foundation has attracted criticism from the left (Bernie Sanders) and the right (National Review) — but, strangely, not Donald Trump, who said “let’s give them the benefit of the doubt.” Clinton’s foundation is generally criticized for transparency issues involving funding donated from foreign governments to the nonprofit — as well as alleged ties between the Clinton Foundation and Hillary’s State Department staff.
Rendell said he wouldn’t be under this scrutiny, were he in this situation: “I would have had a complete wall so that no one from the foundation could have talked to anyone from State, period, about anything.” Thanks, Ed!
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