Hillary Clinton supporter Sen. Ben Cardin (D., Md.) said on Fox News Sunday that the Clinton Foundation would clearly have to "change the way they do business" if she was elected president.
The Clinton Foundation's overlap with the State Department, made more clear by newly released emails showing State Department favors being done for big-money donors, has cast another shadow over the Clinton campaign and created new allegations of a "pay-for-play" environment. Under mounting pressure, former president Bill Clinton announced to foundation staffers last week that it would no longer accept foreign or corporate donations if his wife was elected.
The Boston Globe argued in an editorial last week that the Clinton Foundation should stop accepting funding now, and if Clinton became president, should be shut down completely:
The inherent conflict of interest was obvious when Hillary Clinton became secretary of state in 2009. She promised to maintain a separation between her official work and the foundation, but recently released emails written by staffers during her State Department tenure make clear that the supposed partition was far from impregnable. That was bad enough at State; if the Clinton Foundation continues to cash checks from foreign governments and other individuals seeking to ingratiate themselves with a President Hillary Clinton, it would be unacceptable.
Cardin touted the Clinton Foundation's humanitarian work but agreed it would have to change if Clinton again entered political office.
"With Hillary Clinton being elected president, which we hope will be, they clearly need to change the way they do business, and they've indicated they will," Cardin said. "They're not going to accept any donations from foreign entities. They're going to change the way that the Clintons themselves interact with the foundation. Those decisions will be made appropriate to Hillary Clinton as President of the United States."