Bill Clinton Defends Clinton Foundation Fundraising From Foreign Governments

The Clinton Foundation is mostly well-received because of it charitable work worldwide. How they got the money to do those works is now in question.

NBC News is reporting that there seems to be a myriad of questionable bookkeeping issues with the Clinton Foundation and where the money they use comes from. There seems to be a period of five years where donations from foreign countries were either not recorded or not recorded appropriately, most likely grouped in with another category. This perceived impropriety has been identified by Mr. Clinton as an honest mistake.

The issue has caused the Clinton Foundation to now only accept donations from the six Western governments. Even in the face of this, Clinton says the policy change does not mean the former policy was wrong.

“Absolutely not, it’s an acknowledgement that we’re going to come as close as we can during her presidential campaign to following the rules we followed when she became secretary of state.”

Clinton beams when he speaks of the Clinton Foundation, also known as the Clinton Global Initiative. He is especially proud of the good work the Clinton Foundation has done worldwide, like the “Wings To Fly” program, which has sent 10,000 Kenyan kids to high school, where 94 percent graduate and 98 percent of graduates continue on to college.

According to Forbes, the Clinton Foundation made errors on tax forms, not distinguishing between government grants and donations. Though the Foundation has agreed to amend the appropriate tax forms after an investigation is complete, and Hillary Clinton resigned as CEO of the Clinton Foundation when she announced her intentions to run for president. The air of impropriety still lingers over her family’s benevolent foundation.

Still, there were either grants or donations made to the Clinton Foundation by foreign governments while Mrs. Clinton was Secretary of State. Most politicians would see this as inapproriate. And, the Foundation failed to clear all foreign donation through a vetting process created by the State Department and agreed to on all sides.

The Clinton Foundation’s initial defense was that Canadian law prohibited them from revealing donor’s names. And what of the donations from the China Overseas Real Estate Development and the U.S.-Islamic World Conference? Those were miscategorized as donations, they were actually honoraria paid to Mr. Clinton for services rendered, namely speaking at each conference.

The Clinton Foundation has claimed on tax forms since 2010 that it received no foreign donations. This puts their 2010, 2011, and 2012 tax filings in jeopardy, and in need of review.

For all the good the Clinton Foundation does, educating kids worldwide, bringing clean water to barren areas, revitalizing economies around the world, what does this say about those who run the Clinton Foundation? And, more importantly, what should be done about it?

[Image courtesy of Pat Dollard]