Donald Trump Calls for a Clinton Foundation Shutdown

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Monday labeled the Clinton Foundation "the most corrupt enterprise in political history," calling on the organization to cease operations immediately.

"Hillary Clinton is the defender of the corrupt and rigged status quo. 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 released through his campaign. "It is now clear that the Clinton Foundation is the most corrupt enterprise in political history. What they were doing during Crooked Hillary’s time as Secretary of State was wrong then, and it is wrong now. It must be shut down immediately."

Last week, the foundation said that it will not accept foreign or corporate donations if Clinton wins the presidency in November. A foundation spokesperson also said Bill Clinton would resign from the board, should his wife take the White House.

The move by the foundation last week was an attempt to stave off attacks following a newly released batch of emails obtained by the conservative group Judicial Watch through a public records lawsuit, in which a foundation aide asked State Department staff to arrange a meeting on behalf of a foundation donor, a wealthy Ni­ger­ian businessman of Lebanese descent who had donated between $1 million and $5 million, according to disclosure reports.

In an interview on Fox News Monday morning, Trump said the Clintons should return money from "a lot of countries that we shouldn't be taking and they shouldn't be taking money from."

"Countries that influenced her totally and also countries that discriminate against women and gays and everybody else. I mean, that money — it should be given back. They should not take that money," said Trump.

However, Trump said he wasn't holding his breath for the Clintons to do so.

"Whether or not it will, they're very greedy people, so maybe it won't," the GOP nominee remarked. "But it should happen."

In recent days, Trump has had his own business finances called into question after a New York Times investigation revealed that companies owned by Trump are at least $651 million in debt. The Times also found that a substantial portion of his wealth is tied to three limited partnerships that together are nearly $2 billion in debt.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons