“Janet Yellen , Lael Brainard whom I know, several others, these are really smart people and they’ll do what they think is right”, Clinton said in an exclusive interview with CNBC from the Clinton Global Initiative’s annual meeting in NY.
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The Clinton Foundation’s partner on the project was one of the world’s largest fragrance and flavoring suppliers, Firmenich International SA, along with the Swiss company’s US charity.
Bill Clinton says that out of the hundreds of thousands of donors to the Clinton Foundation over the past 18 years, there must have been some people who gave to the foundation to gain influence with him and his wife.
The Clinton Foundation is planning to drop dozens of employees as it winds down most operations, according to a report by Politico, citing “two former Clinton Foundation officials who remain in communication with staff”.
“I really think they should make a clean break, and apparently so do most staff”, the official added.
Politico credits the cuts to the “concessions made by the Clinton Foundation to controversies swirling around Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign”.
Noting that he’ll be hosting one of the first worldwide summits after the US election, Renzi turned to President Clinton and said with a smile, “My wife waits for you as first gentleman at the G-7”.
“Well, since we had more 300,000 donors, it would be unusual if nobody did”, Clinton said when asked if some of the donors might have been trying to ingratiate themselves with the Clintons. Contributors at Monday’s opening session thanked President Clinton and daughter Chelsea for their work, but skipped over the Democratic nominee. The Associated Press previously reported that numerous people she met with also gave money to her foundation, but there is little evidence of any special favors.
Clinton has pledged to step down from the foundation’s board if his wife is elected president, a decision he says is as painful as a root canal. He did not explicitly bring up how it had been injected into the 2016 campaign, but the 42nd president did hint at the criticisms.
Trump’s own charitable foundation has also faced scrutiny.
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Bill Clinton was paid $260,000 in January 2014 to deliver a speech that lasted less than an hour to a trade group for the perfume industry that later benefited from a Clinton Foundation project in Haiti. “I think it is quite different if the Foundation is operating in America, taking no corporate contributions”.
