President Bill Clinton defended his non-profit organization, the Clinton Foundation, during a rally in key battleground state North Carolina on Tuesday.
“I got tickled the other day when Mr. Trump called my foundation a criminal enterprise. That was pretty funny considering that the three major evaluators of foundations gave it the highest grade they could give,” Clinton said to a hot and crowded gymnasium here.
He added that unlike Trump’s own charitable foundation, the Clinton Foundation “actually (says) who gives us money and what we spend it on.”
Clinton also pointed out that Trump’s foundation was recently fined by the IRS for an improper political donation.
“He made a political contribution to the attorney general of Florida who at the time had her office investigating Trump University. And mysteriously, the investigation vanished,” Clinton said.
The Trump Foundation agreed last Thursday to pay a $2,500 fine to the IRS for a $25,000 political donation it made to Pam Bondi’s Florida attorney general campaign at the time. The donation came only days after Bondi’s office said it was reviewing allegations against Trump University. A formal investigation was never opened.
“The contribution was legitimate, it was sent to the wrong group after a series of errors. This has since been corrected,” said Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks on Tuesday.
Trump and his campaign have not missed an opportunity to blast the Clinton Foundation.
“When Bernie Sanders and The New York Times say the Clinton Foundation presents an unacceptable conflict of interest, it shows just how badly compromised a Hillary Clinton presidency would be,” Trump spokesman Jason Miller said in a statement on Sunday.