CNN commentator Carl Bernstein called the Clinton Foundation’s decision to stop foreign and corporate donations if Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton becomes president "long overdue" on Friday while castigating her for the "dishonesty factor" that is undermining her campaign.
Criticism of the Clinton Foundation’s acceptance of foreign donations and State Department emails showing favors being done for foundation donors precipitated the decision. Bill Clinton announced the move this week to the foundation’s staff, according to reports.
Bernstein said the move might help Republican nominee Donald Trump by shedding light on the "inappropriateness" of the Clinton Foundation accepting foreign donations while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state.
"Long overdue. It should have been done while she was the secretary of state," Bernstein said. "It’s very late in the game to be doing this, and I think it helps Trump in the sense that it shows there are two real issues that won’t go away that are undermining her campaign. The server, and the foundation and the inappropriateness of taking this money in the first place ... this foundation being subject to influence of the secretary of state."
Prompted by New Day host Alisyn Camerota, Bernstein dismissed the Clinton campaign’s claims that no smoking guns were found in the State Department emails showing access for foundation donors.
"What we want to know is the basic conduct of our nominees for the presidency, and this goes to the worst part of Hillary Clinton, as does the server," he said. "At the same time, we’re talking about Donald Trump, who is manifestly unqualified ... Whereas Hillary Clinton has some real credentials, but she must overcome her own Achilles Heel on the trustworthiness, dishonesty factor, and that’s based on her own conduct, not the vast right-wing conspiracy. She has done this to herself. Bill Clinton has been complicit, and they’ve got to get past this, and the reorganization of the Trump campaign has been done to emphasize this aspect of her weakness."
In addition to the pay-for-pay allegations, Clinton has also seen her trust problems rise because of her private email scandal and the FBI’s assessment that she was "extremely careless" with classified information. Bernstein said it was "damn near impossible" for Clinton to put her email server woes behind her.
"She’s got to find a way to put this behind her, and it’s damn near impossible to do, because it’s indefensible what she did with the server, and she is going to have to be contrite in a way that really is meaningful," he said.