Members of Congress led by Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., are preparing to ask the IRS to review the Clinton Foundation’s tax-exempt status.
The Tennessee Republican sought the support of her House colleagues Tuesday by circulating a draft letter to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen in which she raised concerns about media stories that “have revealed that the Foundation failed to report millions of dollars in grants from foreign governments that it accepted while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State and that it facilitated private business transactions between foreign entities.”
Blackburn said the letter had picked up about 20 co-signers by Thursday afternoon.
“What prompted me to do it was constituents last week who were coming in to meetings or going to civic organizations, and people were saying, ‘How in the world could they have done this?'” Blackburn told the Washington Examiner.
She said the problems with the Clinton Foundation boil down to a lack of transparency, the appearance of impropriety and the conflicts of interest that may have arisen from the charity’s dealings with foreign entities while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state.
“I would look at the letter as just basic fact-finding,” Blackburn said. “This is somebody who is standing before the American people saying, ‘I want to be the president of the United States.'”
The letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Examiner, pointed to Bill Clinton’s relationship with Canadian investor Frank Giustra as one of several major issues with the Clinton Foundation.
Giustra has donated more than $100 million to the foundation since 2005 and has shuttled Bill Clinton around the world during more than a dozen trips on his private jet.
“The nexus between the Foundation and Giustra’s business ventures is unusual and raises a question as to whether Foundation activities were used as a pre-text to allow Giustra to gain access to foreign individuals or entities with a stake in his private business interests,” the draft letter said.
“Proceeding under the cloak of philanthropy, the Foundation appears to have facilitated major private business transactions between foreign entities and also failed to report substantial foreign donations during Secretary Clinton’s tenure at the State Department,” the letter continued. “These actions have created an appearance of impropriety and go behind the Foundation’s pledge to act primarily in furtherance of charitable causes for which it was granted tax-exempt status.”
Blackburn’s office said it planned to send the letter to the IRS early next week.
Blackburn said the lawmakers will ask the IRS to respond “within a set period of time.”
