Former president Bill Clinton also announced to staff Thursday that the final meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative would be held in September in New York City, regardless of the outcome of the election.
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Under the changes, the foundation would no longer take money from any foreign entity, government, foreign or domestic corporations, or corporate charities.
Foreign nationals and countries are prohibited from donating directly to US political campaigns, but have given hundreds of millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation, which works globally to combat AIDS/HIV, malaria, childhood obesity and climate change, and promotes women’s rights and other causes. One email showed Doug Band, a Clinton Foundation employee, asking Clinton aides to give someone else in the State Department a job, saying “important to take care of” the unnamed person.
The sprawling charitable network, founded after Bill Clinton left office in 2001, has raised more than $2 billion for initiatives focused on global health, climate change, economic development and increasing opportunities for women and girls.
No announcement was made about the Clinton Family Foundation, a separate entity.
It was reported on Thursday that the Clinton Foundation would no longer receive donations from foreigners or corporations if Clinton wins the election in November, an effort to defuse criticism that donors to the globe-straddling charity might inappropriately seek White House favors in return. Her husband and daughter remain board members. Money accepted from countries such as Saudi Arabia drew scrutiny from both Republicans and Democrats early in Clinton’s presidential bid.
The moves come amid concern among some Clinton allies that additional details could emerge about relationships between Clinton’s State Department and foundation donors.
In 2008, Hillary Clinton signed an ethics agreement governing her family’s charities in order to become President Barack Obama’s secretary of state. Corrupt Venezuelan Banker Gonzalo Tirado hired Jonathan Mantz, a Clinton fundraiser, and made a donation to the Clinton Foundation in order to avoid being extradited to Venezuela whileClinton served as Secretary of State. But then the presidential hopeful said they should return donated money to countries known for poor treatment of LGBT individuals, Jewish believers and Christians. If the foundation were to become a conflict of interest if Hillary Clinton becomes president, how was it not when she was secretary of state, asked the Republican nominee’s son, Donald Trump Jr.
In recent years, the Clintons’ daughter, Chelsea, has taken on a leadership role at the foundation.
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Former President Bill Clinton speaks during the Clinton Global Initiative’s 2015 Winter Meeting in NY.
