(CNN) Democratic strategist and long-time Clinton supporter James Carville said Monday if there is a complete shutdown of the Clinton Foundation, people will die.
"The press has decided that we're going to go after this and shut it down," Carville said. "You are probably going to be successful. There will be people that are going to die because of this."
Bill Clinton announced that the Clinton Foundation will stop accepting foreign and corporate donations if Hillary Clinton is elected president. The changes to the Foundation's donation policy comes as critics slam Hillary Clinton for leading an alleged pay-to-play operation while at the State Department.
If Clinton wins, foundation says it won't take foreign money
"The amounts involved, the favors done and the significant numbers of times it was done require an expedited investigation by a special prosecutor immediately, immediately, immediately," Republican nominee Donald Trump said in a speech in Akron, Ohio.
Carville, who has a new book, "We're still right, they're still wrong," defended the Clinton Foundation on "AC360" by touting its achievements.
Foundation becomes campaign issue
"The Foundation negotiated drugs prices to lower Malaria drugs by 89 percent," Carville said. "The Clinton Foundation was taking no money for the Clintons, raising money from rich people and giving it to poor people."
The prominent Democratic strategist added that in the past, he didn't criticize Republican leaders for perceived conflicts of interest.
"When George W. Bush was president his daddy was raising money for the Bush library, " Carville said. "I thought that was fine. When Bob Dole was Majority Leader, Elizabeth Dole was the president of American Red Cross. I didn't say anything."
Trump called the foundation "the most corrupt enterprise in political history" and continued his call to shut it down, calling for a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton's time at the State Department.
"All of the people that helped shut it down will say, some people, a million people had to die, but we had to prove a point," Carville said.