The Clinton Foundation says its disclosure of foreign donations is stronger than ever as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton mounts her campaign for president in 2016 as critics question her transparency and citing the possibility for conflicts of interest.
In a statement Sunday, acting CEO Maura Pally said the foundation will only accept donations from a handful of governments.
When Hillary Clinton was appointed Secretary of State, we took unprecedented steps to avoid potential conflicts of interest by going above and beyond what is required of any philanthropy and instituted voluntary annual disclosure of all donors on our website, Pally said.
That donor list includes contributions of between $10 million and $25 million from Saudi Arabia, Norway, Australia and the Dominican Republic. Kuwait, Ireland and the Netherlands have contributed between $5 million and $10 million, while Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have each given between $1 million and $5 million, according to the foundation.
Pally also pushed back at specific criticism of donations linked to a Canadian mining executive, whose company, including one of the largest uranium mines in the U.S., was sold to Russia’s atomic energy agency when Clinton was secretary of state.
Frank Giustra and a Canadian charity he established are each listed among the foundation’s top donors with total contributions exceeding $25 million. A New York Times report last week described millions of dollars in donations that were not disclosed during Clinton’s time as the top U.S. diplomat when she had to approve the sale of Giustra’s company.
Pally stressed that the charity is independent, and that Giustra established it in Canada so that Canadians could receive a tax credit for their donations to support the Clinton Foundation.
But as it is a distinct Canadian organization, separate from the Clinton Foundation, its individual donors are not listed on the site, Pally said. This is hardly an effort on our part to avoid transparency — unlike in the U.S., under Canadian law, all charities are prohibited from disclosing individual donors without prior permission from each donor.
Clinton is not involved with the foundation while she campaigns to succeed her former boss, President Barack Obama. Her husband, Bill Clinton, launched the foundation after his own term in office ended in 2001. It has focused on a range of initiatives including promoting education and economic opportunities for women and girls, and addressing climate change and AIDS.
In addition to statements addressing donations from foreign governments, the foundation’s website also highlights its many contributions from major corporations, saying those donations did not overlap with Secretary Clinton’s work.
An examination of the donor list showed many of the top U.S. corporations making donations to the Clinton Foundation. Nineteen of the 30 companies that make up the benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average stock index have made donations, most totaling more than $500,000. They include the Walmart, the nation’s top retailer, Exxon, the biggest oil company, and JPMorgan Chase, the largest U.S. bank.
Other campaigners for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations include congressmen and state governors who themselves take in large contributions from a wide range of similar donors.
Clinton has drawn extra scrutiny with questions about her use of private email during her time as secretary of state instead of a government-issued account, as well as lingering issues from that time such as the 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya.