Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) said Sunday that Hillary Clinton should sever all her ties with the Clinton Foundation if she was elected president.
The Clinton Foundation and suggestions that its donors were given access to Clinton's State Department have plagued the Democrat's presidential campaign in recent weeks. Clinton pledged before becoming secretary of state that she would avoid even the appearance of donors getting special treatment, but emails from her private server have shown favors and meetings being done for some of the foundation's largest donors.
In addition, an Associated Press report revealed more than half of the private parties Clinton met with while at the State Department were Clinton Foundation donors.
Meet The Press host Chuck Todd asked what Sanders would advise Clinton to do.
"I would certainly suggest that as President of the United States, she should cease all operations, all contact with the Clinton Foundation," Sanders said.
"Does that mean shutting it down, or just not being involved?" Todd asked.
"At the very least, she should not be involved," Sanders said. "At the very least."
Todd asked if he would be more comfortable if the foundation was dissolved completely should Clinton win the White House.
"I don't know enough—they do a lot of good things with AIDS and so forth, so I can't definitively answer that," he said. "But I think, Chuck, what we have got to do as a nation is have a very serious debate on the enormous crises facing this country. That is where our focus has got to be."
The Clinton Foundation already announced it would not accept foreign donations if Hillary Clinton became president, but Chelsea Clinton, her daughter, would retain her position on its board.
Sanders and Clinton battled in a tougher-than-expected primary before Sanders finally endorsed Clinton in July. He will campaign for her on Labor Day in New Hampshire.