Such information could prove damaging to Clinton’s bid to return to the White House.
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Facing criticism for some of the donations given to his family’s philanthropy, Bill Clinton said on Thursday that the Clinton Foundation would no longer accept foreign or corporate money and that he would resign from its board should Hillary Clinton win the presidency.
The family renamed their foundation the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation in 2013, although Hillary Clinton stepped down from her board position previous year after announcing her presidential bid.
“Face the Nation” host John Dickerson questioned Hillary Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook about the Clinton campaign’s lack of real availability to journalists for nearly an entire year.
In 2008, Hillary Clinton signed an ethics agreement governing her family’s charities in order to become President Barack Obama’s secretary of state.
The Abedin emails reveal that the longtime Clinton aide apparently served as a conduit between Clinton Foundation donors and Hillary Clinton while Clinton served as secretary of state.
Trump has talked of a 2009 series of emails that showed Douglas J. Band, a chief adviser to Bill Clinton, seeking to arrange a meeting between a senior US government official and Gilbert Chagoury, a Lebanese-Nigerian developer and foundation donor. Mr. Chagoury explained through a spokesman that he had simply wanted to provide insights on elections in Lebanon. “You’re paying and you’re getting things”.
Indeed, the foundation has – on numerous occasions – been slammed for accepting money from governments with less than stellar human rights records, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
But what was revealed in the emails does suggest a possible conflict of interest, according to Scott Amey, general counsel at the non-partisan Project on Government Oversight watchdog. “It will cast a shadow over their policies”.
Hundreds of millions in donations have been given to the Clinton Foundation by foreign nationals and countries; such groups are forbidden from donating to USA political campaigns.
° If Hillary Clinton is president, Bill Clinton said in a letter released on Monday he will step down from the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton board and the group will not accept foreign donations.
Voters’ negative views of the foundation appear to be rooted in how it is perceived: While 29 percent of voters say the foundation’s objective is mostly charitable in that it raises and spends money to provide help for those in need, nearly four in 10 voters (36 percent) say it is a mostly political organization that raises and spends money to further the interests of the Clinton family.
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.
Over the weekend, former Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Clinton supporter, told The New York Daily News the foundation should be disbanded if she’s elected. Its work covers 180 countries, helping fund more than 3,500 projects.
In recent years, the Clintons’ daughter, Chelsea, has taken on a leadership role at the foundation.
The foundation has estimated that commitments by its members have improved the lives of more than 430 million people in more than 180 countries.
“This was someone who had a relationship with the Clintons long before Hillary Clinton became secretary of state”. “Even if you really are entirely separate, and there is no communication at all, people will still say that they gave to the Clinton Foundation”. He also unveiled another major change: the end of the Clinton Global Initiative, its annual event held for worldwide leaders and donors.
The last Clinton Global Initiative meeting is to be held in NY in September, coinciding with the UN General Assembly.
Victor Pinchuk, a steel magnate whose father-in-law, Leonid Kuchma, was president of Ukraine from 1994 to 2005, has directed between $10 million and $25 million to the foundation.
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But the Clintons have also been forced to distance themselves from their foundation.
