On the heels of media types like Chris Matthews assuring the American people that the Clinton Foundation is so “great” that his son used to work there, the Wednesday edition of CNN’s Legal View went even further in providing pro-Clinton spin that the foundation has “good governance and accountability” placing it as a “gold star” charity along the likes of Doctors Without Borders and the American Red Cross.
If that wasn’t enough, host Ashleigh Banfield and CharityWatch president Daniel Borochoff ignored poor rankings for the Clinton Foundation on sites like Charity Navigator and went full James Carville, forewarning critics that “people are going to die” if it shuts down.
Banfield returned from commercial break with a proclamation before welcoming on Borochoff that could have been written by Clinton campaign headquarters: “In the philanthropic world, the Clinton Foundation ranks about as high as can you get for a charity. Guide Star gave it a platinum rating and CharityWatch gave it an A.”
Borochoff himself went onto respond that the Clintons run “an excellent charity” and are among the few “A”-rated charities:
The Clinton Foundation is an excellent charity. They’re able to get 88 percent of their spending to bona fide program services and their fund-raising efficiency is really low, only costing them $2 to raise $100. They are out there with other charities such as Doctors Without Borders, Salvation Army, the American Red Cross.
The aforementioned CNN host made a weak case to show balance by reading from Wednesday’s editorial in USA Today urging the Clinton Foundation to wind down operations, but quickly teed up Borochoff to channel James Carville from Tuesday’s Morning Joe to warn that people will die if the Clinton Foundation shuts down.
“The political casualties of what some have called a scorched earth campaign against the Clinton Foundation, who’s going to be hurt the most,” Banfield fretted.
Borochoff obliged and predicted that people will die without money and medical care from the Clinton Foundation if people don’t “pull the election politics out of the equation here”: “Well, the people, will the millions of people that get reduced — cross — you know, medical, pills for like AIDS and there's all kind of programs they do that help millions of people and people are going to die unless people get the help.”
Without taking into account the fact that donors may be giving money not to help disaffected people but giving money to please the Clintons and secure access with them, Borochoff hailed the web of connections between the Clintons and both public and private individuals as “an excellent charity”:
So, you got to look at it from the metrics of they have good governance and accountability. They have great financial efficiency. They have valuable important programs that help a lot of people in the world. Pull the politics out. Regardless of what you think about Hillary, you know, the Clinton Foundation is an excellent charity.
To close out the lecture to the peons questioning the Clinton Foundation, Banfield gushed that “[i]t’s a gold star” and implored viewers to “remember, it is a charity” (with no mention of how just because a group says it’s a charity means that could be a sham or less than stellar).
The transcript of the segment from CNN’s Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield on August 24 can be found below.
CNN’s Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield
August 24, 201612:53 p.m. Eastern
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD: In the philanthropic world, the Clinton Foundation ranks about as high as can you get for a charity. Guide Star gave it a platinum rating and CharityWatch gave it an A. Daniel Borochoff is the president of CharityWatch and joins me live from Chicago. Daniel, thanks for being with us. Tell me how the foundations ranks compared to other non-profits and why they get an A.
DANIEL BOROCHOFF: The Clinton Foundation is an excellent charity. They’re able to get 88 percent of their spending to bona fide program services and their fund-raising efficiency is really low, only costing them $2 to raise $100. They are out there with other charities such as Doctors Without Borders, Salvation Army, the American Red Cross. On the other hand, CharityWatch has, of course, F-rated charities such as Feed the Children that only gets about 42% of their cash spending to bona fide program services.
BANFIELD: So, you know, across the board, people in your business of rating charities who are not politically motivated say it is stellar and then you get this opinion piece in USA Today that was written today saying: “Yes, the Clinton Foundation supports many good works notably the fight against HIV AIDS. No, it is not the most corrupt enterprise in political history as Donald Trump is calling it, nor is there enough evidence of potential criminality to warrant appointment of a special prosecutor Trump is seeking. But the only way to eliminate the odor surrounding the foundation is to wind it down and put it in mothballs starting today and transfer its important charitable to another large American charity such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.” The political casualties of what some have called a scorched earth campaign against the Clinton Foundation, who’s going to be hurt the most?
BOROCHOFF: Well, the people, will the millions of people that get reduced — cross — you know, medical, pills for like AIDS and there's all kind of programs they do that help millions of people and people are going to die unless people get the help. Hopefully another group would take it on, but what I want to do for a second is if you pull the election politics out of the equation here, it is a really good charity and so people need to look at it apart from their political views and it is a good charity. Like the Carter Center is a good charity as well that another former president founded. So, you got to look at it from the metrics of they have good governance and accountability. They have great financial efficiency. They have valuable important programs that help a lot of people in the world. Pull the politics out. Regardless of what you think about Hillary, you know, the Clinton Foundation is an excellent charity.
BANFIELD: It’s a gold star. Daniel Borochoff, thansk for being with us. I appreciate your time on this one.
BOROCHOFF: My pleasure.
BANFIELD: Let’s remember, it is a charity. Odor aside, a lot of people need that help.
