comscore Bill Clinton defends work of Clinton Foundation | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Top News

Bill Clinton defends work of Clinton Foundation

Honolulu Star-Advertiser logo
Unlimited access to premium stories for as low as $12.95 /mo.
Get It Now
  • ASSOCIATED PRESS

    Former President Bill Clinton greets members of the public after participating in a meeting about economic issues with developer Kem Gardner in downtown Salt Lake City.

WASHINGTON >> Former President Bill Clinton defended the work of his charitable foundation Monday, telling supporters that it had “improved millions of lives around the world” but needs to change if his wife, Hillary Clinton, wins the White House.

The former president outlined the Clinton Foundation’s accomplishments and planned shift in scope in an email to about 500,000 supporters. It came hours after Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump called the foundation “the most corrupt enterprise in political history” adding, “It must be shut down immediately.”

Bill Clinton announced last week that the foundation will no longer accept contributions from foreign governments and corporations if his wife, the Democratic presidential nominee, is elected. The ex-president, who oversees the foundation with daughter Chelsea Clinton, also said he would hold his final Clinton Global Initiative meeting next month in New York regardless of the election’s outcome.

“Since Hillary began her presidential campaign in 2015, Chelsea and I have made it clear that the work the Clinton Foundation started should continue if Hillary is elected, but that changes would be necessary,” Bill Clinton said in the email. “While it would be presumptive to assume a victory in November, now that Hillary is her party’s nominee, it would be irresponsible not to plan for it.”

The changes aim to address criticism from Republicans and some Democrats that the foundation has created a significant conflict of interest as Hillary Clinton seeks the presidency. While Trump has donated to the foundation previously, he has charged Hillary Clinton with creating a “pay-for-play” scheme at the State Department through the work of the foundation.

Defending the foundation’s mission, Bill Clinton pointed to more than 11.5 million people in more than 70 countries who have gained access to HIV/AIDS drugs at a much lower cost and millions of American students who have healthier food and more physical education options because of the foundation. He also noted the foundation’s work around the globe, including efforts to help improve Haiti’s sustainability, foster job training in Latin America and support farmers in East Africa.

The ex-president said in the event of another Clinton presidency, the foundation’s work, funding and his role in it would raise questions that would need to be resolved “in a way that keeps the good work going while eliminating legitimate concerns about potential conflicts of interest.”

If Hillary Clinton is elected, the former president said the foundation would accept contributions only from U.S. citizens, permanent residents and U.S.-based independent foundations, whose names would continue to be disclosed on a quarterly basis. He said the official name would be changed from the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation to the Clinton Foundation. And he said he would step down from the board and no longer raise money for it.

Bill Clinton said that much of the foundation’s international activities would be transitioned to other organizations to continue that type of work.

John Podesta, the chairman of the Clinton campaign, said in a statement on Monday that the foundation had laid out “unprecedented steps” that it would take if Hillary Clinton is elected. He urged Trump to “come clean” with the electorate about the business mogul’s “complex network of for-profit businesses” that are in debt to big banks, the Bank of China and business groups with ties to Russia.

Comments (42)

By participating in online discussions you acknowledge that you have agreed to the Terms of Service. An insightful discussion of ideas and viewpoints is encouraged, but comments must be civil and in good taste, with no personal attacks. If your comments are inappropriate, you may be banned from posting. Report comments if you believe they do not follow our guidelines.

Having trouble with comments? Learn more here.

Leave a Reply

      • Well we know that Bill is a heterosexual male who gave into temptation. But what about the Donald who had previously promised to release his tax returns but sadly he flip flopped and is now refuses to. Why do republicans stand for this hypocrisy? What a bankrupt party they have become.

        • It also begs the question of why Hillary doesn’t release the transcripts of her Wall Street speeches, the ones she was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for. This might reveal her true affiliations.

    • No Pocho. The Clinton Foudnation is well respected for its work with the poor. Obviously she needs to and will separate her position as President from the work of the Foundation. There is zero proof that she gave any favors to anyone. Donald Trump, however, is famously dirty. King of shibai and a lot is about to come out on his scandals.

        • I am still waiting for the Donald’s tax returns. How much money did he receive from Putin? Do you know Sarge? Are you proud that your candidate is a Russian stooge? lol

        • Check out the Clinton Foundation and their dealings with Russia. Wouldn’t it be a good thing if we got along with Russia and we also had a strong leader? Not one the draws a Red Line and then retreats. China and Russia are teaming up and what are we doing? The petro dollar may soon be a thing of the past. Good luck with that and the sheep are worried about Mr Trump’s tax returns. Very sad.

      • Laughing at you. 85% of the Clinton Foundation funds go for salaries, travel, conferences, not direct grants to beneficiaries. Now, the Clintonites say that those aren’t just “administrative costs”, but direct aid, by paid foundation employees, to beneficiaries. Yet, Factcheck.org, which pronounced this strange arrangement OK didn’t bother to name of quantify these so called benefits provided by the foundation. Charity Navigator, a respected evaluator of charitable organizations, has given up on evaluating the Clinton Foundation due to this odd arrangement.

        Let me boil this all down for you. If it smells like poop, it is poop.

        Further, your logic that “she needs to and will separate her position as President from the work of the Foundation.” is equally hilarious. You seem to think that the influence bought by past donations has no sway on Clinton’s future policy actions. This pretty much defies the laws of graft and corruption 101 and ignores the possibility of future payment for services rendered while Hillary is president.

        No, you couldn’t be blinder to the Clinton’s influence peddling if you poked your own eyes out.

    • I sure believe Bill Clinton over the Donald. Are you proud that your candidate for president probably owes big bucks to Putin? But no, that is perfectly all right as he is republican. Your hypocrisy is showing. Tell the Donald to release his tax returns or leave the race! What a coward he is.

  • Lying runs in the Clinton Family! Lie Lie Lie, now, this is not on the floor in the prone position type of “lie”. That’s how Democrats would read it, just like horses to the slaughter house.

    • Peter Schweizer: Media Went from ‘Defending the Clinton Foundation’ to ‘Pretending It Wasn’t There’ to ‘Saying Shut It Down’

      Appearing on Monday’s edition of Breitbart News Daily, Peter Schweizer, president of the Government Accountability Institute and author of the best-selling book Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich (now available in graphic novel format) credited his book’s success to “the hunger and desire people have for real information about our political leaders, in this case Hillary Clinton.”
      SiriusXM host Alex Marlow noted that during a fundraising appearance over the weekend, Clinton “sort of implied that she’d like to shut down Breitbart, if she can.”

      Schweizer agreed with Marlow that it might be too late for Clinton to save her controversial Clinton Foundation by suppressing dissident news outfits, since even the leftist Huffington Post ran an article over the weekend flatly calling on Clinton to “shut it down.” Schweizer said he was somewhat surprised to see the Huffington Post take such a strong position against the Foundation.

    • lol, as if lying doesn’t run in the republican party? Say, found those WMDs yet? How about the Donald’s tax returns? Face it the republicans have the biggest liar of all time who makes tricky Dick look honest.

      • MSNBC’s Mitchell: Trump’s Call For Special Prosecutor Is ‘Getting Into Clinton’s Head’

        MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell said on Tuesday that Donald Trump’s call for a special prosecutor to investigate the Clintons and their foundation is “getting into Hillary Clinton’s head.”

        Appearing on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Report,” Mitchell said, “I’m not suggesting [Trump’s] going to stay on script, but the script is different in that talking about a special prosecutor, in talking about Arkansas, this is, Kasie Hunt, this is getting into Hillary Clinton’s head. This is what she hated most, what she fought back against in the ’90s, and this is a different playbook.” (RELATED: Bahrain’s Prince Got Audience With Clinton After Donating $32 Million To Her Foundation)

        Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2016/08/23/msnbcs-mitchell-trumps-call-for-special-prosecutor-is-getting-into-clintons-head-video/#ixzz4IC4sya5G

  • A typical Clinton response to criticism–divert the issue/question. The accusation was not against the good things the Foundations does, it’s the foreign countries that donate and get favors in return–that’s the issue to be addressed. Trump is correct–that’s the achilles heel of Hillary–connect the private, Secretary of State email dots to the Foundation and what the donors got in return!!! The Federal prisons for celebrities are a country club–she won’t suffer–might lose weight. Look at Martha–she came out stronger.

  • Bill Clinton said the foundation will no longer accept contributions from foreign governments and corporations if his wife is elected. Isn’t that wonderful? Why wasn’t it done when Hillary became Secretary of State? As a condition of her appointment as Secretary of State, Hillary agreed in writing there would be a clean separation between the State Department and the Clinton Foundation, which we now know was a lie. Hillary defenders like Klastri will say there is no evidence directly linking Hillary to the Clinton Foundation during her tenure at the State Department. That may be so, but there is enough indirect evidence to show the cozy State Department-Clinton Foundation relationship, which can be found in the hundreds of emails between the Clinton Foundation and Hillary’s top aides at the State Department. It is reasonable to assume they were acting on Hillary’s behalf to keep her fingerprints and DNA off of the evidence. Anyone who believes there will be no connection between a Hillary Clinton White House and the Clinton Foundation suffers from Three Monkey Syndrome.

  • Sad thing is you can’t tell when the Clintons are lying or not. Most of the time they’re saying things just to benefit from it. Bill and Hillary are a match made in hell.

  • Remember what Hillary said: The Clinton Foundation will Not take any foreign donations, “IF” She is elected POTUS. Play of words? IF? They do that a lot,don’t they? Play with words,like…”I did not have $*x relations with her” Or? “At this point ,what difference does it make”. And those emails?…..nevermind, you get the message.Haaaaaaaaaaa!
    Just follow The Money Trail folks and do your ABC’s.IMUA

  • admitting that the clinton foundation is really a $2 billion money laundering scheme, the foundation suggested that it may not continue soliciting bribes if the female felon is elected to president.

    the artificial bribing deadline is expected to trigger even larger payments from repressive governments that use huma abedin to funnel their cash and requests for political favors.

    however, bill clinton has just confirmed that the clinton global initiative will continue to accept bribes even if the female felon is elected president as their collections are too lucrative to walk away from.

  • Another how dumb do they think we are story by the Clinton apologists at the AP. The Clintons have taken influence peddling to a new level by selling out the country and have been doing so since Bill’s days as governor. It will be interesting to see how little Barry behaves after he leaves the WH. Bill and Hillary may have poisoned the well for the Obamas to engage in the same type of money laundering masquerading as charity.

  • Here’s one you might not see.

    The US has entered into an exclusive contract with a real estate firm to sell 56 buildings that currently house U.S. Post Offices.
    The sale of these properties will fetch about $19 billion. A regular real estate commission will be paid to that company. That company is CRI, CRI will be making a minimum of 3% and as much as 6% commission on each and every sale.

    CRI belongs to a man named Richard Blum. Richard Blum is the husband of Senator Dianne Feinstein Senator Feinstein and her husband stand to make a fortune from these transactions. (EST at between $950 million and $1.1 billion!!)

    How does a U.S. Senator from San Francisco manage to organize and lobby such a sweet deal?

    Has our government become so elitist that they have no fear of oversight? Isn’t this a cousin to insider trading? Pass this info on before it’s pulled from the Internet.

    Verified it on Snopes:
    http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/blum.asp

  • Clinton Foundation receives millions of dollars from Saudi Arabia, a country who executes homosexual’s, gay’s, lesbians, women can’t drive cars and are the leaders of funding Islamic jihadist to terrorize and kill people in the west. Former president Jimmy Carter gets millions from the Saudi fund for his library in Emory. so the Clinton foundation is really a friend of Saudi Arabia who fund terrorist that kills people in the west. so the foundation is really crooked.

    • also that is why they don’t dare to say Islamic terrorist, Obama will get the same funding from Saudi Arabia for his library, since he made a fool of himself, bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia, no leader ever does that. it shows cowardice.

  • Obama said,
    Jul 27, 2016 – … a woman, not me, not Bill Clinton, nobody, more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as president …
    What is that. A joke?

  • Yeah right Bill. Your charitable foundation enabled you and Hillary to go from “dead broke” to billionaires. Pay for play, no? Who would trust either of you lying Clintons?

  • “….but needs to change if his wife, Hillary Clinton, wins the White House”….it’s like a habitual Bank Robber telling the authorities..”I’ll stop robbing if you give me $1 Billion”?

Click here to see our full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak. Submit your coronavirus news tip.

Be the first to know
Get web push notifications from Star-Advertiser when the next breaking story happens — it's FREE! You just need a supported web browser.
Subscribe for this feature

Scroll Up