Clinton Foundation may limit foreign contributions if Hillary runs

The Clinton Foundation might limit or ban contributions from foreign governments and persons should Hillary Clinton run for president, the group suggested Thursday.

The foundation has come under scrutiny for having lifted a ban on accepting donations from foreign governments, which it put in place at the request of the Obama administration when Hillary Clinton was picked as secretary of state.

But since Clinton left the state department at the start of President Obama’s second term, the foundation has brought in many millions of dollars from countries including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Australia and Norway. Donations from foreign governments apparently accelerated in 2014, as the foundation looked to meet a goal of a $250 million endowment.

Those foreign contributions were posted without any fanfare on the foundation’s website and first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Now, the foundation is suggesting it will consider a moratorium on foreign donations, similar to that imposed while Clinton was secretary of state, if Clinton runs for president.

“The Clinton Foundation has a record of transparency that goes above what is required of U.S. charities. This includes the voluntary disclosure of contributions on the Foundation’s website,” the foundation said in a statement posted to its website. “Should Secretary Clinton decide to run for office, we will continue to ensure the Foundation’s policies and practices regarding support from international partners are appropriate, just as we did when she served as Secretary of State.”

The foundation has brought in nearly $2 billion since 2001 for a broad swath of initiatives, including women’s empowerment, expanding treatment for HIV/AIDS, and investing in renewable energy in Haiti.

But a large share of those donations in 2013 and 2014 have come from foreign entities, potentially posing a political problem for Clinton as she eyes a bid for the presidency. Republicans have leaped on the donations as evidence of a conflict of interest for Clinton.

“The for sale sign is still up, and as long as the Clinton Foundation continues to take foreign money, Hillary’s conflict of interest problem is just going to keep getting bigger,” said Republican National Committee spokesman Michael Short.

Among the recent contributions from foreign governments, Saudi Arabia donated to the foundation in 2014, according to a list posted to the Clinton Foundation website, bringing that nation’s total contributions to between $10 million and $25 million.

Oman, a first-time donor in 2014, contributed between $1 million and $5 million, as did the United Arab Emirates and Australia, which also donated in 2013. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale, an entity of the German government, also donated between $1 million and $5 million in 2014. Norway has donated between $10 million and $25 million, but did not contribute to the foundation in 2014.

Foreigners may not give money to American political campaigns, but governments wishing to influence or curry favor with a future presidential candidate might have used giving to the Clinton Foundation as a workaround.

The donations are one corner of the expansive web of Clinton’s connections that will be subject to intense scrutiny during a presidential campaign. Clinton has also come under fire for the money she has earned giving paid speeches to corporations and other groups.

Clinton is widely expected to stop delivering paid speeches when she runs for president, but other changes in her role with the foundation — and changes in the foundation itself — are less clear.

One unnamed Clinton aide told CNN in 2014 that “the best precedent may be history” for how the foundation will adjust, meaning it would revert to the policies it adopted when Clinton served as secretary of state. Clinton would likely cut her official ties with the foundation, although Bill Clinton might not. Chelsea Clinton has taken on a leadership role with the foundation and is expected to remain active there.

But, even if the foundation does once again ban donations from foreign governments, other donors might still create some political challenges for Clinton. The foundation has accepted money from a wide range of corporate donors, with the largest share coming from financial services — a source of some concern among some progressive Democrats.

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