“The Clinton Foundation said late Wednesday that it will continue to accept donations from foreign governments during Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, despite concerns that such gifts will create a conflict of interest for the Democratic front-runner.
“The foundation’s board said that donations directly to the foundation would only be accepted from six governments – United Kingdom, Norway, Netherlands, Germany, Canada and Australia. However, other governments could continue to participate in the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), a subsidiary program that encourages donors to match contributions from others to tackle international problems without direct donations to the charity.
“The foundation also said that it would stop holding CGI meetings abroad after a final session planned for Morocco in May. According to the Wall Street Journal, ministers from any government would be allowed to attend and appear on panels at CGI meetings and those governments would be permitted to pay attendance fees of $20,000.
“Ethics experts had called on the foundation to stop accepting all foreign donations for the duration of Clinton’s presidential campaign. The Journal also reported that the Morocco conference had been funded by a $1 million gift from a Moroccan state-owned phosphate export company. The paper also reported that a second planned CGI meeting scheduled for June in Athens had been cancelled.
“Clinton, who resigned from the foundation’s board last week, has faced mounting criticism over the charity’s ties to foreign governments. Her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination referred questions from the Associated Press about the board’s decision to the foundation.
“The foundation also will begin disclosing its donors every quarter instead of annually – an answer to long-standing criticism that the foundation’s once-a-year lists made it difficult to see shifts and trends in the charity’s funding. Former President Bill Clinton and other foundation officials have long defended the charity’s transparency, but the new move signaled sensitivity to those concerns, particularly as his wife begins her race for the White House.
Speaking exclusively with Newslo, Hillary Clinton stated that “foreign capital is essential for America and her own campaign, because the nation has a tendency to be very self-destructive at times.”
“I’ll call it like it is – we are just not capable of making decisions in the best interest of our people. There are plenty of examples for that. Take Iraq, for instance – invading a country under the false pretenses that it possessed nukes, when in reality all we were after are its oil reserves? Preposterous,” she stated.
Clinton continued: “And look at what’s going on now – we’ve got ISIS that has risen from the ashes of what’s left of the Iraqi state. And that’s just one example out of hundreds throughout American history. It’s obvious we as a nation are not capable of making our own choices. So, when all else fails, just start thinking outside the box. And that’s exactly what we’re doing here.”
