Hillary Clinton surrogate Howard Dean blasted the press on Friday by calling them "intellectually lazy" for the way they have been reporting on the Clinton Foundation.
MSNBC anchor Craig Melvin referenced a report from Thursday that said the State Department will be releasing Clinton’s detailed planning schedules from her tenure as secretary of state and handing them over to the Associated Press. Melvin asked Dean how worried he was about the schedule potentially delivering another negative headline about "pay-to play" allegations between the foundation and Clinton’s State Department.
Dean said there will definitely be headlines like this because it is what Republicans want. He also blamed the foundation coverage on the "intellectually lazy" press before pivoting his critique of Clinton Foundation reporting to Clinton’s involvement with the Red Cross.
"The secretary of state is on the board of the Red Cross automatically. Does that mean that all the people that she sees that might be involved with the Red Cross are somehow involved with corruption? This is a non-story. This is ridiculous," Dean said.
Dean then compared the Clinton Foundation to former president George H.W. Bush’s Points of Light Foundation, where Dean noted he has an advisory role on their board.
"I happen to be on the Points of Light Foundation, which is George H.W. Bush’s foundation on their advisory board. Neil Bush was working for them his entire time that George W. Bush was in the presidency. I see nothing untoward about that. The Points of Light Foundation is doing fantastic work around the world and so is the Clinton Foundation. This is a non-story pushed by the right wingers and the press is obsessed with this notion of equivalency," Dean said.
Melvin asked Dean if he saw any issues with the relationship, real or perceived, with Clinton potentially becoming the next president of the United States and her involvement with the foundation.
"She has clearly said that she’s going to get off the board, that her husband is going to get off the board, and that Chelsea can run it. So we should penalize Chelsea and the 100 million people who have been helped by the Clinton Foundation, because of the obsession of cable television? I don’t think so," Dean said.
Melvin then asked Dean about the possibility of the Clinton Foundation scaling back its work and allowing other groups to take over some of the AIDS and HIV projects in Africa.
Dean thought it was a great idea and then criticized Clinton Foundation critics for their denunciation of the charity accepting a $32 million contribution from the royal family of Bahrain.
"Much was made of the $32 million contribution that came from the royal family in Bahrain. That money never actually went to the Clinton Foundation. It was a contribution through the Clinton Foundation for education of students in various places, including the United States. This is outrageous to even be talking about this. This is ridiculous," Dean said.
Dean has been a staunch defender of Hillary Clinton and her family’s foundation in recent interviews and even went as far as saying that "not one damn thing" has been found in any of Clinton’s emails. Clinton was investigated earlier this year by the FBI for her private server during her tenure as secretary of state. While she was not charged, FBI Director James Comey said she was "extremely careless" for her handling of classified material.