BUSHILLARY

Former Bush Ethics Lawyer Backs Clinton

Says foundation could pose problems, even though no laws broken.

President George W. Bush’s former chief White House ethics lawyer backed Hillary Clinton for president in a Wednesday New York Times op-ed, while warning the Democratic nominee must do more to allay public concerns about the Clinton Foundation and its influence on her policymaking decisions. “I’m a Republican, but I believe that Hillary Clinton is the only qualified major-party candidate in the race and she should become president,” wrote Richard W. Painter, now a law professor at the University of Minnesota. “There is little if any evidence that federal ethics laws were broken by Mrs. Clinton or anyone working for her at the State Department in their dealings with the foundation,” he noted before cautioning: “[I]t does not matter that no laws were broken, or that the Clinton Foundation is principally about doing good deeds. It does not matter that favoritism is inescapable in the federal government and that the Clinton Foundation stories are really nothing new. The appearances surrounding the foundation are problematic, and it is and will be an albatross around Mrs. Clinton’s neck.”