Clinton on pay-to-play accusations: A lot of smoke and no fire

Hillary Clinton defended the Clinton Foundation on Wednesday against rival Donald Trump, saying “there is a lot of smoke, and there is no fire” surrounding claims that she used her time as secretary of State for personal gain. 

{mosads}Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has accused Clinton of running a pay-to-play scheme at the State Department, saying she sold favors and access in exchange for donations to her family’s foundation.

“What Trump has said is ridiculous. My work as secretary of State was not influenced by any outside forces. I made policy decisions based on what I thought was right,” Clinton said in a phone interview with CNN Wednesday night.

She also shot down an Associated Press story that claimed more than half of the meetings she took with people outside the government while secretary of State were with foundation donors. 

Clinton, the Democratic nominee, said the story excluded nearly 2,000 meetings she had with world leaders and U.S. government officials. 

“I know there is a lot of smoke, and there is no fire,” she said.

“It draws a conclusion and makes a suggestion that my meetings with people like the great Elie Wiesel … were somehow due to connections with the foundation instead of their status as highly respected global leaders,” Clinton said. 

“This is absurd. These are people I would be proud to meet with, as would any secretary of State would have been proud to meet with, to hear about their work and their insights.” 

The Clinton campaign spent Wednesday pushing back on the story and asking the AP to delete a tweet that claimed more than half of those who met with Clinton while she was secretary of State gave money to her foundation. 

Campaign chief strategist Joel Benenson said Wednesday morning that the AP had only considered a small sliver of her tenure as secretary of State.