Chorus grows for Clintons to shutter charitable foundation

[WASHINGTON] The Clinton Foundation, the family philanthropy of Democratic US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, should shut down or transfer operations to another charity despite its good work to avoid perceptions of "pay-for-play", The Washington Post and USA Today said in editorials on Wednesday.

Despite plans announced earlier this week to reorganize the Clinton Foundation if Hillary Clinton wins the Nov 8 election, USA Today said the global charity must close for the Democratic candidate to avoid any appearance of unethical ties.

"The only way to eliminate the odour surrounding the foundation is to wind it down and put it in mothballs, starting today, and transfer its important charitable work to another large American charity such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation," the paper's editorial board wrote.

The Gates Foundation did not immediately respond to questions about this suggestion.

The newspaper also published an editorial by Donna Shalala, the Clinton Foundation's president, in which she argued that the foundation helps millions of people, especially in developing countries, and so scaling down its work was not simple.

"This suggestion ignores how global philanthropy works, and the reality that there are human beings around the world who would be affected by these decisions," Ms Shalala wrote.

The foundation announced on Monday that it would stop accepting at least some foreign and corporate donations if Mrs Clinton wins the presidency and that her husband, former President Bill Clinton, would resign from the foundation's board.

The Washington Post said in its editorial that these changes were insufficient and should have happened sooner, before Hillary Clinton served as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.

"The foundation undoubtedly does worthwhile work," the Post's editorial board wrote. "Should Mrs Clinton win, all of that work and all of the foundation's assets should be spun off to an organisation with no ties to the first family."

The Clintons' daughter, Chelsea Clinton, remains on the board of the charity, the full name of which is the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.

The call from two leading US news organisations came as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and other members of his party have taken to calling for a special prosecutor to investigate what they say is corruption. The Clinton campaign has dismissed such calls as groundless political smears.

Republicans see attacking Mrs Clinton over the organisation as a way of unifying conservatives divided over Trump, who has never held elected officer and who often deviates from conservative orthodoxy.

Democrats hope the controversy comes too late to make a difference in the election, in which most national public opinion polls show Mrs Clinton ahead.

The foundation has said Hillary Clinton was not involved with the group while serving as the nation's top diplomat. The Clinton campaign denies Mrs Clinton ever took any action because of donations to the foundation.

Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook told MSNBC on Wednesday that Mrs Clinton does not have a conflict of interest with charitable work, and pointed to her rival's business interests with Wall Street, China and Russia.

"Donald Trump and his bottom line and his networks are directly connected to all kinds of international entities ... and nobody's asking him to disclose or divest," Mr Mook said of the New York businessman.

Mr Trump has responded by saying it is Mrs Clinton, not he, who has close ties to Russia.

REUTERS