Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” while discussing the pay-to-play accusations between then-Secretary Hillary Clinton’s State Department and her family’s organization the Clinton Foundation, interim Democratic National Committee chairwoman Donna Brazile said it was an attempt to “criminalize behavior that is normal.”
Partial transcript as follows:
RADDATZ: I want to move to The Clinton Foundation. There was major news about Secretary Clinton this week. Newly released e-mails obtained by ABC News show that Clinton Foundation officials looking for invitations for major donors to State Department events, including a presidential speech, including sitting next to Vice President Biden. Do you see any problem with that — ?
BRAZILE: You know, based on what I have seen, I understand that there’s a — just a new round of fresh eyes looking at more e-mails that might be released. I’ve been dealing with another situation involving e-mails that were leaked, private information that has been put out in the public —
RADDATZ: Let’s stick with The Clinton Foundation —
BRAZILE: — well, I got to stick with what I know. I’m not an official of the State Department.
(CROSSTALK)
RADDATZ: — do you have a problem with that commingling?
BRAZILE: First of all, Martha, the way I look at it, I’ve been a government official. So, you know, this notion that, somehow or another, someone who is a supporter, someone who is a donor, somebody who’s an activist, saying I want access, I want to come into a room and I want to meet people, we often criminalize behavior that is normal. And I don’t see what the smoke is. I understand why it’s being discussed. But like I said, I’ve been dealing with another situation, another e-mail situation. The DNC was the victim of a cybercrime, an attack. And that has been my focus, not the focus of another round of e-mail controversies.
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