Clinton on perceived "blurred lines" between her foundation and State Department
In her final push toward Election Day – now nine weeks away -- Hillary Clinton spent Labor Day traveling with reporters on her plane for the first time in her campaign. She also answered questions from the traveling press for the first time in several months.
“I heard now that we’ve got this great plane, that Donald Trump actually invited his press onto his plane,” Clinton told reporters.
Halfway between Ohio and Illinois, Clinton came back and took over a dozen questions from the reporters who will now share a plane with her everywhere she goes.
“Do you feel that you contributed to the perception that there were these blurred lines between the State Department and Clinton Foundation by having several employees who seemed to go back and forth between the two?” CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes asked.
“No, I don’t. Nancy, look, everything I did at the State Department I did in furtherance of America’s interests and our security,” Clinton answered. “The State Department has said there’s absolutely no evidence of any kind of external influence.”
She suggested the Russians might be trying to help Trump.
“When Putin was asked about it, he could barely muster the energy to deny it,” Clinton said.
On Labor Day, Clinton focused on Trump’s employment record.
“He built a career out of not paying workers for the work they did,.” Clinton said.
But then the two campaigns clashed over – of all things – allergies, after Clinton said her seasonal allergies briefly got the better of her on the plane and in Cleveland.
“Donald Trump does not have the temperament to be our commander in chief,” she said, coughing between words.
Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway tweeted that Clinton “must be allergic to media. Finally spent a minute with them.”
A Clinton aide fired back that it’s Trump who outright bans certain press outlets from his events.
Clinton herself said it might not be the fall pollen at all.
“Every time I think about Trump, I get allergic,” Clinton said.