Clinton: 'I am sure' that there are no damaging emails

Hillary Clinton forcefully and unequivocally rejected on Friday the prospect that her presidential campaign could be derailed by any new emails or scandals related to the Clinton Foundation.

"Are you certain that there are no emails or foundation ties to foreign entities that will be revealed that could perhaps permanently impact your presidential prospects?" co-host Mika Brzezinski asked Clinton during a telephone interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."


"Mika, I am sure, and I am sure because I have a very strong foundation of understanding about the foundation—not to have a play on words—that the kind of work the foundation has done which attracted donors from around the world is work that went right into providing services to people,"Clinton replied.

Clinton reiterated that neither she, nor Bill Clinton, nor Chelsea Clinton have "taken a penny" for the work of the foundation.

"My work as secretary of state was not influenced by outside sources. I made policy decisions based on what I thought to keep Americans safe and protect our interests abroad," Clinton said. "I believe my aides also acted appropriately. And we have gone above and beyond most of the charities that I understand, beyond legal requirements, beyond standards to voluntarily disclose donors and also to reduce sources of funding that raised questions — not that we thought they were necessarily legitimate, but to avoid those questions."

Donald Trump has been repeatedly hammering Clinton for alleged "pay for play" in which Clinton Foundation donors got access to powerful political figures during Clinton's tenure as secretary of state. Conservative group Judicial Watch was been fueling the scandal by obtaining more troves of emails that show Clinton's aides working with top foundation officials to set up meetings for donors.

Brzezinski remarked that it "raised questions," asking, for example, if "a Republican candidate who was actually credible was running against you and served as secretary of state and took donations from foreign entities, wouldn't you be criticizing him or her for a conflict of interest?" Additionally, Brzezinski inquired as to whether, "in retrospect" it was not a good idea not to make changes to the foundation's structure announced earlier this month seven years ago when she became secretary of state.

"Mika, I would not be criticizing. I would be looking at the work," Clinton said. "And if there were no evidence, I mean people can say whatever they want, but if there were no evidence that there was any conflict, I would say look, I appreciate the work that they did to help 11.5 million people around the world get more affordable medicines and I appreciate the work that was done to help more people make a living and get a job and help American kids battle obesity and get better foods. I would appreciate that. Because if you look at everything the foundation did it is very much in line with what our government has done."

The former secretary of state made note of her husband's work with President George W. Bush on HIV/AIDS relief as an example.

"There is in my view a lot of very positive lessons to be learned. And what's different is when you're secretary of state compared to president, it does require greater efforts," Clinton said, adding, "And that's why we are moving from where I think we appropriately were when I was secretary to what the new responsibilities would be as president."