75 days until vote
Only 75 days left until Election Day on Nov. 8. All year, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has brought you the key moments in federal and state races, and we will continue to cover the campaign’s main events, examine the issues and analyze candidates’ finance reports until the last ballot is counted. You can follow our political coverage on our politics page at myAJC.com, or track us on Twitter and Facebook.
Former President Bill Clinton, during a campaign stop in Atlanta, pushed back on a report Wednesday that linked his wife’s meetings while secretary of state to donors to the Clinton Foundation.
After working the crowd at Manuel's Tavern, the former president sought to downplay an Associated Press report that found more than half the people outside the government who met with Hillary Clinton at the State Department gave money to the foundation.
“We’re trying to do good things. If there’s something wrong with creating jobs and saving lives, I don’t know what it is,” Bill Clinton said. “The people who gave the money knew exactly what they were doing. I have nothing to say except I’m really proud of the work they’ve done.”
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has seized on the report as an indicator of the ethics challenges his Democratic opponent faces, saying she’s made “lie after lie” to cover up breaches. He and his surrogates, including Georgia U.S. Sen. David Perdue, have called for a special prosecutor to investigate the meetings as well as the private email server she used as secretary of state.
“Actions speak louder than words, and this is just another example of Hillary Clinton’s questionable ethics and integrity,” Perdue said. “Whether you are the secretary of state or want to be the commander in chief, pay-to-play politics is wrong.”
Clinton’s campaign has said the report was flawed because it didn’t include meetings with foreign diplomats or other U.S. government officials. And Bill Clinton on Wednesday highlighted the work the foundation has done targeting childhood obesity and boosting international health programs.
He also said that he would not raise money for the foundation if Hillary Clinton wins the November contest and that he would transition any responsibility over foreign or corporate donations to other nonprofits.
“I’m happy to do the transition as swiftly as we can, and we’ve already found partners who are going to take over some of this stuff,” he said. “But we have to do it in a way where no one loses their job, no one loses their income, no one loses their life.”
The visit came ahead of a fundraiser at a north Atlanta home that featured Atlanta artist Usher.
