Story highlights Bernie Sanders says Hillary Clinton should cut ties to her family foundation if elected

Donald Trump's campaign used Sanders' comments to attack Clinton

Washington (CNN) Donald Trump's campaign seized on Bernie Sanders' comments Sunday about Hillary Clinton's relations to her family foundation, taking license to make them sound more critical of her than he said in a television interview.

In an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday, Sanders downplayed the importance of the controversies surrounding the Clinton Foundation, but said he thinks Hillary Clinton should cut ties to it if she beats Trump in November.

"I would certainly suggest that as president of the United States she should cease all operations, all contact, with the Clinton Foundation," Sanders said.

Citing the "good things with AIDS and so forth" the Clinton Foundation has done, the Vermont senator who challenged Clinton in the Democratic primary, said he "can't definitively answer" if it should be shut down, or the former secretary of state just shouldn't be involved.

"At the very least she should not be involved. At the very least," Sanders said.

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