A crowd of approximately 14,000 supporters stood in line for hours in the chilly autumn air.
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Former U.S. President Bill Clinton holds his hand to his chest to acknowledge applause as he makes departing remarks on the final day of the Clinton Global Initiative in NY.
The Clinton Global Initiative will eliminate dozens of jobs by the end of the year, Politico reports, although some staff will remain to continue working with donors.
White House historian William Seale predicted Bill Clinton will be called “former President Clinton” or “Mrs. Clinton’s husband, President Clinton”, USA Today wrote in July, if Hillary Clinton wins.
Clinton said he’s happy with the work the foundation has done and has changed the way that people do philanthrophy. The former president said he would also step down from the board and stop raising funds for the organization. “None of this could have happened without the belief that progress is possible”. He did not explicitly bring up how it had been injected into the 2016 campaign, but the 42nd president did hint at the criticisms. Clinton allies have said that those actions were the sort that a secretary of state’s office would typically have engaged in, even if the people had had no connection to the foundation. “It’s kind of a insane time”.
Critics have suggested that the Clinton Foundation could create new conflicts of interest for a Clinton administration, an argument that the Clintons have grudgingly accepted – though without explaining why the same arguments would not have applied to her term as Secretary of State. The foundation has pushed back against the attacks, but questions about the foundation continue to hamper Clinton’s campaign with some voters.
“Well, since we had more than 300,000 donors, it would be unusual if nobody did [try to get favors]”, Clinton told NPR in an interview.
“I’ve had this job longer than I ever had any job and I’ve loved it”, Clinton said.
“Everywhere today there is a temptation to say that everything I just told you is wrong, ‘Life is a zero-sum game and I’m losing; no, you’re wrong, our differences matter more than our common humanity, ‘” he said.
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This is the twelfth CGI, the twelfth annual meeting here, and this is the last one. In a third instance, he sought help from longtime Hillary Clinton confidante Huma Abedin to obtain a diplomatic passport.
