Bill Clinton defended his family’s foundation against attacks on its acceptance of foreign donations by claiming the charity had done nothing “knowingly inappropriate.”
The former president told NBC he was “proud” of the Clinton Foundation’s work and said he did not believe a previous policy that allowed the charity to collect money from foreign governments and corporations was a mistake.
“There has never been anything like the Clinton Global Initiative,” Clinton said during a recent trip to Africa with major donors, “where you’ve raised over $100 billion worth of stuff that helped 43 million people in 180 countries.”
Clinton pointed to a “very concerted effort to bring the foundation down” in defending his family’s sprawling philanthropic machine, which has raked in $2 billion since its inception in 2001.
Bill and Chelsea Clinton’s nine-day swing through Africa with a handful of wealthy contributors came amid intense scrutiny of the foundation’s activities and revenue stream.
The deluge of criticism has threatened to overshadow the launch of Hillary Clinton’s second presidential campaign as critics question whether her husband’s philanthropy and speaking engagements posed conflicts of interest to her while she served as secretary of state.
The former president made oblique reference to the foundation controversy in a statement on the charity’s website encouraging supporters to remain loyal to its cause.
“Underneath the headlines, the trend lines are going in our direction,” Clinton said. “You must not be discouraged by the fact that doing good is not often considered good news.”
A number of deep-pocketed donors have publicly expressed concern about the negative attention Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid has trained on the foundation.
