Bill Clinton Outlines Detailed Changes to Foundation if Hillary Clinton is Elected President
— -- Not long after Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump released a statement calling the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation “the most corrupt enterprise in political history” and demanding it be shut down, former President Clinton said he will step down from the board should his wife be elected.
The former president also announced Monday that he will no longer raise money for the foundation should his wife win in November. A spokesperson for Chelsea Clinton tells ABC News that she will remain on the board regardless of the election results.
In his letter, sent via email to supporters today, President Clinton admitted that it would be presumptive to assume a November win, but officials for his foundation say that talks about protocol changes have been occurring since February.
“If Hillary is elected president, the Foundation’s work, funding, global reach, and my role in it will present questions that must be resolved in a way that keeps the good work going while eliminating legitimate concerns about potential conflicts of interest,” wrote Clinton.
In a meeting with foundation staff last week, Clinton told staff that the organization would no longer accept foreign or corporate donations if Hillary Clinton is elected and that the final Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) meeting will be next month.
But his letter today went a step further -- with the former president writing that his foundation will only accept contributions from U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and U.S.-based independent foundations.
He also noted that the official name of the charity will change from the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation to the Clinton Foundation. Clinton also said he will step down from the board of the Clinton Health Access Initiative, the largest program of the Clinton Foundation, in addition to the general board of the foundation.
The former president listed a slew of initiatives pioneered by the foundation, including improved access to HIV/AIDS medication worldwide and sustainable farming, among many others.
At times, President Clinton appears emotional in his writing, reminiscing about intimate moments with the people he’s met while traveling the world on behalf of his charity. He recalled holding a healthy baby who is alive because of greater access to AIDS medicine and planting seeds alongside farmers in Malawi.
The foundation has repeatedly denied any corruption and has painted themselves as much more transparent than other foundations. Most notably, they began making their donor names public when Hillary Clinton became Secretary of State. Despite Donald Trump and his running mate, Governor Mike Pence's call for a complete shut down of the foundation, President Clinton made it clear in his letter that he has no plans of doing so. Today, Hillary for America Chair John Podesta put out statement in direct response to Trump's corruption assertions.
"The Foundation has already laid out the unprecedented steps the charity will take if Hillary Clinton becomes president. Donald Trump needs to come clean with voters about his complex network of for-profit businesses that are hundreds of millions of dollars in debt to big banks, including the state-owned Bank of China, and other business groups with ties to the Kremlin. Donald Trump should stop hiding behind fake excuses and release his tax returns and immediately disclose the full extent of his business interests. He must commit to fully divesting himself from all of his business conflicts to ensure that he is not letting his own financial interests affect decisions made by his potential administration."
