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The Clinton Foundation announced Thursday that it would no
longer accept donations from corporations or foreign entities if
Hillary Clinton is elected president.

The decision comes amid mounting criticism of how the foundation
operated during her tenure as secretary of state, potentially
allowing donors to seek special access through her government
post.

Former president Bill Clinton also announced to staff Thursday
that the final meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative would be
held in September in New York City, regardless of the outcome of
the election.

A spokesman for the foundation confirmed the decisions, which
were first reported by the Associated Press.

The moves also come amid new allegations that foundation donors
may have been given favored access while Hillary Clinton ran the
State Department. Republican nominee Donald Trump has been
highly critical of the foundation for accepting money from
foreign governments — in particular Saudi Arabia, saying the
contributions undermine Clinton’s record on women’s rights.

CGI, launched in 2005, is an arm of the foundation that hosts
gatherings bringing together government leaders, private
companies and not-for-profit organizations to discuss ways to
solve the world’s problems.

The initiative’s chief event is an annual meeting in New York
City, tied to the United Nations General Assembly. The meetings
provide networking opportunities for participants and a forum
for private companies to make pledges to conduct charitable
projects around the world, monitored by the Clinton Foundation.

The Clintons have long acknowledged that significant changes
would need to be made to the foundation in the event that she is
elected.

“There’ll clearly be some changes in what the Clinton Foundation
does and how we do it, and we’ll just have to cross that bridge
when we come to it,” Bill Clinton said at a CGI event in Atlanta
in June.

[Two Clintons, 41 years, $3 billion: Inside the Clinton donor
network.]

According to a newly released batch of emails obtained by the
conservative group Judicial Watch through a public records
lawsuit, a foundation aide asked State Department staff to
arrange a meeting on behalf of a foundation donor, a wealthy
Ni­ger­ian businessman of Lebanese descent who had donated
between $1 million and $5 million, according to disclosure
reports.

The official said that he never connected with the businessman
and denied that anyone had asked him to meet with the man.

Following the release last week, Trump accused Clinton of
breaking the law and engaging in “pay to play” practices.

Trump and his family members have donated to the foundation in
the past. When asked about it on the campaign trail, he has said
that he regrets doing so, accusing the foundation of mismanaging
its finances.

The Boston Globe’s editorial board called on the Clintons this
week to shutter the foundation if she became president, saying
it would pose an unacceptable conflict, given that some donors
were foreign governments and corporations.

“The inherent conflict of interest was obvious when Hillary
Clinton became secretary of state in 2009,” the Globe wrote.
“She promised to maintain a separation between her official work
and the foundation, but recently released emails written by
staffers during her State Department tenure make clear that the
supposed partition was far from impregnable.”

After Hillary Clinton launched her presidential campaign in
2015, she stepped down from the board, and the foundation
promised to disclose its donors more frequently and limit
foreign governments that could donate to a select list engaged
in particular projects.

The foundation had also put in place certain restrictions on
accepting donations from foreign governments while Clinton was
secretary of state. It said it would seek State Department
approval for any new foreign government donations or any
substantial increase in donations from a preexisting government
donor. But the rules did not prevent the foundation from
accepting millions of dollars in foreign government donations
while she was in office.

A 2015 Washington Post report also revealed a government
donation that was not properly submitted to the State Department
for approval.

According to a 2015 Post analysis of foundation donors, a third
of contributors who had given more than $1 million were foreign
governments or other entities based outside the United States.

Jose A. DelReal contributed to this report.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/clinton-foundation-to- restrict-foreign-corporate-donations-if-hillary-clinton- wins/2016/08/18/af237cc8-6590-11e6-96c0-37533479f3f5_story.html
 

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