Carville: 'Somebody is going to hell' over Clinton Foundation attacks

"Somebody is going to hell" over the political attacks on the Clinton Foundation, longtime Clinton confidant James Carville declared Tuesday, denouncing the recent scrutiny and criticism of the charitable organization.

If the Clinton Foundation had decided not to accept foreign donations while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, as it has recently announced it would do if she is elected president, Carville said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that the "good" thing would be that the organization would not be part of the political discussion.


"The bad would be you'd be out hundreds of millions of dollars that are doing good. What the Clinton Foundation does, it takes money from rich people and gives it to poor people. Most people think that's a pretty good idea," Carville said.

Bill Clinton also announced to supporters on Monday that he would step down from his position on the foundation board if his wife wins in November and would cease fundraising activities for the organization.

Pressed on whether the Clinton Foundation should have clamped down on foreign donations before Clinton became secretary of state, Carville responded, "If you ask me as a political adviser, of course."

"If you ask me as a human being, eh, I’m not too sure. As a human being I think the foundation does an enormous amount of good. From a strictly political standpoint, yeah," Carville said, invoking his Catholic sixth-grade teacher to say, "somebody is going to hell over this. Because somebody, now I’m not saying here—or somewhere is. This is saving people’s lives."

Co-host Joe Scarborough did not take kindly to the sentiment.

“I wish I could say the word I want to say. I’ll just say that’s BS," Scarborough remarked. "You know the fact is if it's a great charity and it’s a five-star rated charity, guess what, other people can raise the money. It doesn't have to be Bill Clinton calling somebody up making people think, if I give him money it could help me out. If it's a great charity, it can stand on its own and other people can raise money for it. It's not a zero-sum game. It's not having Bill Clinton raise money while his wife is running for president or else we're all going to hell and little kids are going to die across the planet.”

“They’re gonna," Carville shot back. "The other thing is, Bill Clinton has more charm and people around the world have an enormous amount of faith in him. I've traveled with him. I've seen it myself. There are not many people that have the relationships and are held in the affection around the world as Bill Clinton."

