Hillary Clinton is making her problem worse
to the FBI and other public statements had been truthful. He didn’t; indeed he noted that while her testimony to the FBI was truthful, some of her public comments were not.
Politifact, the nonpartisan fact checker, assessed her claim to be totally false.
Some Clinton supporters have criticized Comey, saying that the FBI director’s role is to bring a case or drop it, not to comment on matters of judgment. There are former Justice Department officials who say it was unusual for the FBI director to be so expansive and judgmental.
Yet these same officials say that Comey might not have gone so far if Bill Clinton hadn’t foolishly paid a social call at an airport on Comey’s boss, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, before the investigation was complete. (Lynch then said she would accept Comey’s recommendation, which she later did.)
The latest flap is the Clintons’ contention that using the private email was suggested by a predecessor, Colin Powell. There may have been a Powell suggestion — he says he doesn’t recall — but she decided to use the private system much more extensively and exclusively than Powell did. She didn’t do it for convenience; she did it for reasons of secrecy. Annoying Powell, who may well endorse her, was unnecessary.
But since being cleared of legal liability, she has fudged and shuffled. She says she made a mistake and regrets it, but then equivocates or rationalizes. It’s counterproductive. She should cut her losses, turn over anything to appropriate authorities and move on.
On the Clinton Foundation, there are several realities. It has done fine work, saving lives. But by accepting contributions from foreign governments and wealthy interests at home, it creates the impression that favors are being traded. If she is elected, it will cast a shadow over the credibility of her presidency unless all family ties are severed.
Last week, Bill Clinton announced that if his wife wins, he will step aside from the foundation and it no longer will take foreign or corporate money. That still leaves the possibility that their daughter could run it and wealthy influenceseekers could donate.
“Her inadequate response to the conflicts of interest inherent in the Clinton Foundation,” the influential liberal columnist Jonathan Chait wrote last week in New York magazine, shows she “has not fully grasped the severity of her reputational problem.” He added, “If the Clinton Foundation is not leveraging the Clinton name, it has no purpose.”
Politifact and Jonathan Chait are not part of what Clinton once famously called the “vast right-wing conspiracy.”
If severing family connections would hurt beneficiaries of the foundation’s philanthropy, here’s a solution worth considering: Turn it over to the Carter Center, former President Jimmy Carter’s group, which also has done remarkable work. Albert Hunt is a Bloomberg columnist.