CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton defended his foundation’s acceptance of donations from foreign governments on Saturday, pointing to the track record of his global philanthropy as Hillary Rodham Clinton nears an announcement on a 2016 presidential campaign.
In an interview at the Clinton Global Initiative University, the ex-president sought to address critics who have questioned the receipt of donations from foreign governments while the former first lady served in the State Department and after she departed in early 2013.
“My theory about all of this is disclose everything and then let people make their judgments,” Clinton told moderator Larry Wilmore of the cable channel Comedy Central. “I believe we have done a lot more good than harm and I believe this is a good thing.”
He spoke shortly after Hillary Clinton appeared on stage along with the couple’s daughter, Chelsea Clinton, but steered clear of addressing criticism involving her use of a private email account while she served as secretary of state under President Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton also did not talk about the recent scrutiny of the foundation’s fundraising practices, instead giving college students a preview of an upcoming report on the progress of women and girls by her foundation’s “No Ceilings” project.
On the donations flap, Bill Clinton noted that some of the foundation’s money has come from Middle Eastern nations, pointing to donations from the United Arab Emirates. “Do we agree with everything they do? No. But they’re helping us fight ISIS,” he said. Similarly, Bill Clinton said he didn’t agree with the entire foreign policy of Saudi Arabia, another donor, but he pointed to its construction of the kingdom’s first coeducational institution.
He said the foundation has received donations from more than 300,000 people since its inception. “You’ve got to decide when you do this work whether it will do more good than harm if someone helps you from another country,” he said.
In recent days, Hillary Clinton has faced criticism over her use of a private email account while she was secretary of state. The disclosures have raised questions over whether Clinton complied with federal rules requiring government officials to retain written communications involving official business.
Clinton has requested her emails to be released and the State Department is reviewing the 55,000 pages of emails she has already turned over. Congressional Republicans are investigating.
Republican National Committee spokesman Michael Short said Hillary Clinton had spent the past week “hiding from the press and voters” and that it was “clear that Hillary Clinton feels the rules that every other American lives by don’t apply to her, and today’s failure to answer these questions did nothing to allay any of these concerns.”
Obama commented publicly on the email controversy for the first time Saturday, telling CBS News that he first heard about the private account through news reports and that he was glad that Hillary Clinton had “instructed that those emails about official business need to be disclosed.” Asked how the dustup squared with his administration’s push for transparency, Obama said Clinton’s decision to put them forward “will allow us to make sure that people have the information they need.”
Republicans have also assailed the Clinton Foundation’s receipt of donations from foreign governments, saying it could create a conflict of interest for the former first lady if she’s elected president.
Hillary Clinton is building a campaign team and remains the leading Democratic presidential contender if she enters the 2016 campaign. Her appearance at the University of Miami brought her before an audience of college students in one of the nation’s top presidential battleground states and was only a short drive from the home of a potential Republican rival, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
Pointing to her upcoming “No Ceiling” report, Hillary Clinton said “unfinished business” remained in the educational and economic opportunities of women and girls and she would speak in detail about it next week in New York. She said she plans to black out her social media profile images on Sunday to take part in a program called “Not There” to raise awareness about gender inequality.
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Thomas reported from Washington.
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Follow Ken Thomas on Twitter at https://twitter.com/KThomasDC and Kelli Kennedy: https://twitter.com/kkennedyAP
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
“Republicans have also assailed the Clinton Foundation’s receipt of donations from foreign governments, saying it could create a conflict of interest for the former first lady if she’s elected president.”
Great , so if Republicans are claiming that publicly disclosed financial contributions to a private family charity has an alarming potential to be a corrupting influence in government, wouldn’t that principle apply even more pointedly to the dark money they receive for their own reelection campaigns?
I’m just asking.
I think we may have to come to terms with the eventuality that Hillary Clinton will never make it through the primary process without incurring so much damage that she’ll never get elected.
“…a conflict of interest…”
Crocodile tears.
Conservatives don’t care about conflicts of interest. They live for conflicts of interest. They’re not at all conflicted about bowing down to corporate donors. Scott Walker is so harried to heed his master that he doesn’t even bother to check if it’s the real David Koch on the other end of the phone.
“Now you’re not talking to any of these Democrat bastards, are you?”
Well, RNC spokesman Michael Short, if you think “Hillary Clinton feels the rules that every other American lives by don’t apply to her,” I guess Scott Walker and Jeb Bush aren’t Americans.
Its a Global Initiative, hellooooooooooo!
In the Global world, Global things happen and no one can deal with just the likes of themselves when they go Global. The whole point is to bring the world together and yoke that strength for the betterment of us all.
Having an initiative and taking it Global will bring about Global transactions. What does anyone think is happening and why is being connected worldwide a bad thing? Especially for the potentially most powerful person in the world.
I guess if your prior involvements or current business taints you and predicts your future leanings, then Mutt Romnerd would’ve definitely offshored every single American job and off shored the jillions of ill gotten dollars that he raked in from that. The Repubs loved him and how about Bush, a 5 time loser or something like that and that was well known before the Repubs hopped on the SS failure.
This is an exercise in, what will the Republicans be disingenuous about this week.