Liberal political operative James Carville Tuesday defended the Clinton Foundation as an organization that has helped save lives all over the world, declaring that "somebody is going to hell" for attacking it for political reasons.
"The Clinton Foundation is a five-star rated charity," Carville told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program, pointing out that from 10 million to 11 million people have received AIDS antiviral medications through its efforts.
"Its taken the cost of malaria drugs down about 90 percent," Carville continued, saying that out of all the things he's proud of former President Bill Clinton over, the foundation stands out as an "'awesome organization" for efforts also including "stopping genocide and the human genome project."
The conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch has released 725 pages of emails involving the Clinton Foundation and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, including previously undisclosed exchanges showing Clinton's top aide, Huma Abedin, setting up a meeting for the crown prince of Bahrain, after he committed $32 million to the foundation.
Carville said Tuesday the crown prince would likely have gotten a meeting with Clinton anyway, as Bahrain is a longtime ally, and he does not see a "single thing, for the life of me, strange about the secretary of state meeting with probably our best ally and probably the most strategic."
Further, Carville insisted, neither Clinton, nor her husband or daughter have taken any money from the foundation, but last year donated $1 million to it.
"No one said anything when senior President [George H.W.] Bush was raising money for the Bush Library and [George W.] Bush was president," said Carville.
The Clintons, though, don't need to take money from the foundation, as they get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for their speeches, show host Joe Scarborough shot back, and he disagreed the contention that Bill Clinton is the only one who can raise money for the foundation.
"I wish I could say the word I want to say, but I'll just say that's 'BS'," said Scarborough. "The fact is, if it's a great charity and a five-star rated charity, guess what? Other people can raise the money.
"It doesn't have to be Bill Clinton calling somebody up making people think, 'If I give him money, it could help me out.' It's not having Bill Clinton raise money while his wife is running for president or else we're all going to hell and little kids are going to die across the planet."
But Bill Clinton, said Carville, "has more charm, and people around the world have an enormous amount of faith in him. I've traveled with him. I've seen it myself. Not many people have the relationships and held an affection around the world like Bill Clinton."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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