A third-party review of the Clinton Foundation found the charity operated “more like a political operation” than a philanthropy in Nov. 2011 — just a few months before the end of Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state.
The revelation was included in a “confidential” memo prepared by Kumiki Gibson, then a lawyer at Williams & Connolly, the firm that has represented Clinton throughout her email controversy. That memo was published Saturday by WikiLeaks, along with hundreds of other emails taken from the inbox of Clinton campaign chair John Podesta.
“The Foundation (as opposed to its initiatives, which I have not reviewed) operates more like a political operation focused on immediate situations, tasks, and events, as opposed to a professional, strategic, and sustainable corporation committed to advancing its overall mission,” the review stated.
“While that may not be a problem while the President is personally involved in the Foundation — and can garner support based on that involvement — it will be a problem when he is no longer involved, and the Foundation has to rise and/or fall on its own name and work only,” Gibson added.
At the time, foundation advisers and leaders were locked in a disagreement over how to deal with the conflicts of interest that had begun to plague the charity.
Because Bill Clinton was collecting paychecks from corporations that were also donors to his foundation, one high-level aide cautioned against putting “too many rules” in place during the review process.
“The challenges and deficiencies plaguing the Foundation cannot be over-stated: They are real and undermine the organization’s effectiveness, immediately and more long term,” Gibson wrote in the memo.
Among those problems, the memo cited “very little, if any, accountability” as well as the time and money wasted on efforts unrelated to the foundation.
“The lack of a strategy tied to an articulated vision is one of the major deficiencies of this organization,” the memo said. “Employees, even at the senior level, could not articulate the organization’s game plan for achieving its mission, confessed that there are no goals or measures tied to any strategy, and complained that the work across the organization is not linked to each other or, even worse, does not always advance the Foundation’s mission or best interests.”
WikiLeaks has released more than 50,000 of Podesta’s emails since Oct. 7.
The Clinton campaign has mostly declined to comment on the content of the Podesta emails, citing the purportedly illegal nature of how they were obtained.
