Clinton defends allegations on foundation, blasts Trump

Asserts work as secretary of state not influenced by any outside force; says there is lot of smoke, no fire

WASHINGTON: Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has said that her work as secretary of state was not influenced by any outside force, rejecting allegations levelled against her by Republican rival Donald Trump over Clinton Foundation.

“What Trump has said is ridiculous. My work as secretary of state was not influenced by any outside force. I made policy decisions based on what I thought was right. I know there’s a lot of smoke, and there’s no fire,” Clinton told CNN in an interview her first on the national media in nearly a month.

In her interview, 68-yearold Clinton alleged that Trump is taking a hate movement mainstream.

“Donald Trump has shown us who he is... He is taking a hate movement mainstream. He’s brought it into his campaign. He is bringing it to our communities and our country,” she said in response to a question.

“Someone who has questioned the citizenship of the first African-american president, who has courted white supremacists, who’s been sued for housing discrimination against communities of colour, who has attacked a judge for his Mexican heritage and promised a mass deportation force, is someone who is very much

peddling bigotry and prejudice and paranoia,” she said.

The former secretary of state also alleged that 70-yearold Trump is changing his stance on immigration.

“He is trying to do a shuffle here. But I think we need to look at the entire context. We need to believe him when he bullies and threatens to

throw out every immigrant in the country and changes his position three time in one day,” she said.

“No wild political attack by Donald Trump is going to change that. And, in fact, the State Department has said itself that there is no evidence of any kind of impropriety at all,” she said.