Chuck Todd Grills David Plouffe On Clinton Foundation And ‘Checks’ Him For Labeling Donald Trump A ‘Psychopath’

Chuck Todd had political strategist David Plouffe on this Sunday’s Meet The Press to discuss the accusations against the Clinton Foundation for taking money from foreign leaders and share his view on the 2016 presidential campaign.

The first issue Chuck Todd covered on the Clinton Foundation was the time when Hillary Clinton was to become the Secretary of State for the Obama administration, where it was reported that she would have to withdraw her involvement with the Clinton Foundation, as well as disclose donors over conflict of interest.

Prior to this, Hillary Clinton was running against President Obama in 2008, whose campaign had David Plouffe on board as his adviser. At the time, the call for Clinton to disclose donors to the foundation, should she be elected, is said to have come from the press which we refer to in an op-ed published by the LA Times.

Chuck Todd asked David Plouffe if Clinton held her end of the bargain when she signed an agreement with the White House, saying she would not be taking donations on behalf of the foundation while Secretary of State.

Plouffe says that he believes she did and then continues to talk about the good work the foundation has done around the world, adding that even Donald Trump had donated $100,000 to the foundation, which has recently and widely been reported. It was this issue that Plouffe used as an example to show that even a controversial candidate running against Hillary Clinton has contributed.

He then followed this by telling Chuck Todd about his perspective on the campaign, saying that in contrast to the accusations against the Clinton Foundation, Donald Trump’s murky world of finances is even worse.

Specifically, he tells Chuck Todd that Donald Trump appears to be more interested in protecting his tax returns because they reveal his connections to China and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Chuck Todd then asked why Bill Clinton was not asked to step down from the foundation eight years ago as opposed to now since the situation where his wife is running for president is the same. Plouffe responded by saying that the calls for transparency of the Clinton Foundation — which they had already responded to, along with revealing donors and payments with the philanthropic work it does all over the world — isn’t something that could be left behind.

But Chuck Todd asked, if the donors weren’t concerned with the Clinton Foundation being such a political hot potato, why they would want to be involved?

ICYMI: Our interview with @davidplouffe on Trump, the Clinton Foundation, and #Decision2016 https://t.co/aAIxCPLTo9

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) August 28, 2016

Chuck Todd’s concerns were about the idea that people were buying access with their donations, wanting to get something in return. David said that these are rich people who are donating, and none of them are doing so in order to buy access.

Then, Chuck Todd turned to asking him about the race and his initial predictions on Clinton not being able to do well in Virgina and Colorado, when sources — such as CBS News — are reporting that she’s leading in those states.

Absurd interview – that's not analysis but a political hack job – showed clear in the psychopath comment.

— Jon Bassoff (@CoachJEB18) August 28, 2016

Plouffe then gave the reason that those were the states where Obama led in his campaigns but also said that Donald Trump was diabolically trying to convince the voters there that he was their candidate, giving him a public diagnosis as to why he thought he could.

“I think the assessment was that Donald Trump would try to do some things to appeal to the electorate, to appeal to suburban college-educated women. He’s not, I mean basically you have a psychopath running for president. I mean he meets the clinical definition, okay.”

Chuck Todd felt he had to stop him there.

“Diagnosing people on air… I mean, I assume you don’t have a degree in Psychology — is that fair? I mean, we’re jumping to conclusions here. This is what gets voters a little frustrated.”

Before Donald Trump started his campaign, he was in a contract with Chuck Todd’s network NBC for a reality show called The Apprentice, which after his incendiary statements, was cancelled by the network.

Donald Trump was at odds with the network over the issue but has been on Meet The Press with Chuck Todd repeatedly throughout the campaign.

[Photo by Charles Dharapak/AP Images]