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Clinton’s foundation to alter donations policy if elected

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, joined by New York Police Department Commissioner Bill Bratton, left, and others, meets with law enforcement leaders at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York today.

NEW YORK >> Hillary Clinton’s family foundation will no longer accept foreign and corporate donations if she is elected president, and will bring an end to its annual Clinton Global Initiative meeting regardless of the outcome of the November election.

Former President Bill Clinton made the announcement at an afternoon meeting with foundation staff members, according to participants who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity ahead of the formal announcement.

Bill Clinton said the foundation plans to continue its work, but intends to refocus its efforts in a process that will take up to a year to complete. The former president, who turns 70 on Friday, said he will resign from the board, and the foundation will only accept contributions from U.S. citizens and independent charities.

It will no longer take money from any foreign entity, government, foreign or domestic corporations, or corporate charities. A Clinton spokesman said the former president will also refrain from delivering paid speeches until the November election and will no longer give paid speeches if Hillary Clinton is elected president.

At the staff meeting, Clinton said he and his daughter, Chelsea Clinton, did not face any external pressure to make the changes, but wanted to avoid any potential issues or second guessing for Hillary Clinton should she move into the White House.

The future of the Clinton Foundation has been one of the overarching questions shadowing Clinton’s campaign.

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.

While Hillary Clinton stepped down from its board after launching her 2016 campaign, her husband and daughter have remained in leadership roles, prompting questions about the ability of the organization to continue its work should Clinton win the White House.

Some of the group’s funding has come from foreign donations and political donors to the Clinton family. Money accepted from countries such as Saudi Arabia drew scrutiny from both Republicans and Democrats early in Clinton’s presidential bid.

Republicans said the changes fell short and urged the Clinton Foundation to immediately stop receiving foreign donations. Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus said the announcement was “too little, too late,” adding, “if everything was above board while Hillary Clinton ran the State Department as the Clintons have said, then why change a thing?”

Priebus said the foundation “should immediately cease accepting foreign donations and return every penny ever taken from other countries, several of which have atrocious human rights records and ties to terrorism.” He said the foundation’s continued acceptance of foreign donations during Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign was a “massive, ongoing conflict of interest that gets bigger by the day.”

When Clinton served as secretary of state, the foundation reached an agreement with the Obama administration to prohibit, and in some cases curtail, foreign donations to its programs.

But questions persist about the level of influence foundation donors had at the State Department. That criticism intensified after emails from Clinton’s time at the department were made public as part of a lawsuit.

After she left the State Department, the foundation resumed accepting donations from overseas. Bowing to pressure in April 2015, the group announced that it would restrict donations to only six Western nations and disclose its donors more frequently.

Former Sen. Richard Lugar, a Republican from Indiana, questioned Hillary Clinton at length about the foundation and potential conflicts of interest in early 2009 during her nomination hearing. He was pushing for more transparency than what was ultimately agreed upon between the foundation and the Obama transition team.

Lugar said moving forward, if she wins the White House, he hopes she and Bill Clinton make a completely clean break from the foundation to avoid anyone thinking that favor is being given to people who helped out the foundation.

“The Clintons, as they approach the presidency, if they are successful, will have to work with their attorneys to make certain that rules of the road are drawn up to give confidence to them and the American public that there will not be favoritism,” Lugar said earlier this week.

Members of the Clinton Foundation board met earlier in the day to ratify the changes.

In September, the former president will convene his 12th and final Clinton Global Initiative, an annual meeting that has included Obama, foreign heads of state, corporate leaders and celebrities to discuss commitments aimed at addressing poverty, health care, education, climate change and other topics. The foundation has estimated that commitments by its members have improved the lives of more than 430 million people in more than 180 countries.

Bill Clinton said that similar meetings like the Clinton Global Initiative America and CGI International will end with next month’s meeting. He said he was hopeful that his organization could continue CGI University, an annual meeting of students held on a college campus in the spring.

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Associated Press writers Lisa Lerer and Eileen Sullivan contributed from Washington.

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Follow Ken Thomas on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/kthomasdc

26 responses to “Clinton’s foundation to alter donations policy if elected”

  1. st1d says:

    “the female felon’s foundation will no longer accept foreign and corporate donations if she is elected president, and will bring an end to its annual Clinton Global Initiative meeting regardless of the outcome of the November election.”

    an obvious admission that foreign countries and businesses have purchased the female felon and her approvals for arms, mining and uranium deals during her tenure as secretary of state. $100s of millions have been funneled to the female felon’s foundation to be laundered as legitimate slush funds for the clinton’s shopping sprees and traveling circus in exchange for the selling of america.

    one of the first things the female felon will do if she succeeds in stealing the presidency is pardon the father and father-in-law of her daughter. both were indicted, arrested, convicted and sentenced to prison for fraud.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LYRUOd_QoM

  2. CEI says:

    That article is so funny I almost forgot to laugh. The Clintons are addicted to pay for play money. They never let ethics get in the way of a quick buck in the past why go legit now?

  3. Keonigohan says:

    “IF” she gets elected …until then foreign money will be accepted…mafia and cartel money will be accepted as well of course…business as usual.
    Admittedly so, the most corrupt family to ever run for the office….from sexual_assults to many mysterious deaths left behind…including American goverment personnel.

    • CEI says:

      You got that right. If you plan on crossing the Clintons make sure your life insurance premium is paid so your loved ones are taken care of. Remember Vince Foster and Ron Brown among others.

  4. 64hoo says:

    What a liar, Obama has been doing it for 8 years, so she will follow in his footsteps to make more money.

  5. lespark says:

    Was that an admission of wrongdoing? You better believe your not so sweet okole.
    Great speech today from Charlotte. As long as he stays on message Trump does good. With all the missteps from just the last couple of days I see a change in the polls.
    I mean Louisiana is underwater and he’s been taking drops from the water hazard.
    Btw, where was he on 9/11-12/2012 when 4 Americans were slain by a group of Lybians incited by watching a video of Hillary doing Hula.

    • lespark says:

      FBI interview – Hillary Clinton
      Xxx xxxxx xx xxxxxx x xxxxxx xxxx xx xxxxx xx xxxxxx, xxxxxxxx, xx. Xxxxx, xxx xxx x xxxxx xx xxxx .
      Loretta Lynch – lock her up.

    • 64hoo says:

      or when president bush was 2 days late the last time Louisiana was underwater of touring the damage, news and T.V. were all over him for being late, now its been 4 or 5 days have not herd from Obama flying over the damage area come on news start screaming about Obama not being there checking the damage.it just show’s how the liberal news media won’t say one word about obama not showing up.

      • serious says:

        If you remember the issue in Louisiana, the Governor begged Bush not to come because they could not afford to give him protection due to the crisis. With Obama–he’s trying to get his handicap down before he goes on those speaking tours!!

  6. lespark says:

    If she doesn’t get elected no one is going to donate Nothing to them except maybe Ikefromeli, Klastri, boots, NanakuliBoss, Keaukaha, and a few more of her more vociferous supporters. But then again these guys don’t have any money. All show and no go.

  7. Winston says:

    So funny, those Clintons! What about the money she’s ALREADY RECEIVED IN BRIBES????? Huh, what about the gusher of cash delivered while Secy of State/running for president???? These Clintons are unbelievable, oh, but I repeat myself.

    • hawaiikone says:

      Kind of like now that I’ve got the mansion and the Ferraris, you can hold off on the cash flow for a bit, just for appearance’s sake. Oh, you gotta love the gullible..

  8. Ronin006 says:

    Don’t believe it, readers. There was supposed to have been absolutely no connection between Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation during her tenure as Secretary of State which we now know was not the case, so why would anyone believe there will be no connection between the Foundation and Hillary Clinton if she becomes President?

    • 64hoo says:

      get your head out of the sand she was making money for there foundation while using her post as SS. to make money. wake up brah.

      • st1d says:

        ronin is in agreement with you. reread his post.

        the don’t believe it part is telling people not to believe that the money laundering foundation will not be controlled by the female felon if she becomes president.

  9. lespark says:

    Another disgrace to be added to the democrats rapidly growing list………………….
    So, the Dems had to pay actors to fill up seats at their convention and
    now we learn they paid Khan??
    Khan was paid $25,000 by the Clinton campaign to speak at the DNC.
    The speech was not written by Mr. Khan, but by two campaign staffers.
    The copy of the US Constitution that Mr. Khan held up was bought only
    two HOURS before his speech by a female staffer, to be used solely as a
    prop and Khan returned the book after speaking.
    5 Gold Star families turned down the opportunity to speak before Khan
    was contacted by the Clinton campaign.
    All five families were paid $5,000 and signed a non disclosure.
    Khan’s immigration law firm is in debt $1.7M and owes back taxes of
    upward $850,000 plus penalties.
    CNN paid Khan over $100,000 to tell his “story” and repeated
    interviews across networks.
    Khan was given a bonus of $175k by the DNC for his effort in the
    media.
    The IRS has since put Khan’s tax file on a “hold” status.
    Is this guy going to claim this on his taxes?? And doesn’t this
    disgrace the memory of his son?? Talk about soulless

    This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
    https://www.avast.com/antivirus

    • cojef says:

      Amazing if the data is correct, no media follow-up? Huh! ho hum? what’s new. somewhere in all the comment there must be the real truth. Allah/God knows not to follow-up such a mess!

  10. PMINZ says:

    Oh yes they will change it to be better hidden from the public, that is my opinion.

  11. lespark says:

    The Clintons are as sleazy and corrupt as they come. Anybody who can condone her deserves what they get. Four more years of drudgery, insider corruption, racism, bigotry, mysogeny, joblessness, lawlessness, pay for play, gridlock, 20 trillion debt, and a whole lot more.
    Trysts on the Tarmac, lies to the Benghazi mother, DOJ meddling, taking sniper fire, destruction of government records, white gate, black lives don’t matter, TPP, and the most damning issue – the Democratic Party.
    The poorest big cities have Democrat Mayors. They should enlist the gang bangers in Chicago and send them to fight ISIS.
    Following in Obama’s shoes is a recipe for disaster. The 400 million dollar ransom was revealed as a condition of the release of the 5 further putting American hostages at risk. 150 billion Iran deal. Obamacare. Common Core. Executive Orders. On and on, failure after failure.
    Louisiana is under water, the only thing he’s worried about is the water hazard.

  12. Keonigohan says:

    Libs….crickets….crickets….crickets

  13. Tita Girl says:

    This is a call to “…any foreign entity, government, foreign or domestic corporations, or corporate charities. ” to GET THEIR Bribes a.k.a. donations in NOW, before it’s too late. Which I doubt it ever will be. And if elected, When will the Taking actually stop…in November or after taking office in January? That would give them an additional 2 months to hold a fire sale.

  14. samidunn says:

    She said the same thing when she ran for the Senate.

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