Bill Clinton ‘unaware’ of wrongdoing at foundation
Bill Clinton defended the embattled Clinton Foundation Monday, saying he is “unaware” of any “pay to play” schemes taking place while his wife was secretary of State.
{mosads}The former president, speaking with CBS News’ Charlie Rose said he isn’t aware of any instance in which donors to the foundation received special treatment or access to Hillary Clinton at the State Department.
“I have said to the best of my knowledge nobody ever got anything from the State Department because they supported the Clinton Foundation,” he said.
“If they did and it was inappropriate, I would say that was wrong too. I have proved that I’m not averse to apologizing for things that I think were wrong. So I am unaware of that.”
The Clinton Foundation has faced questions recently about whether it was a conflict of interest to accept money from foreign donors while Clinton was secretary of State.
An Associated Press investigation also found overlap between donors to the foundation and people Clinton took meetings with while at the department.
The foundation has announced that if Clinton is elected president, Bill will step down from the board and the foundation will stop accepting foreign and corporate donations.
Clinton differentiated between allegations of “pay to play” schemes and taking meetings with someone because of connections.
“Now, if you think nobody should ever call somebody they know and say, ‘Well, so-and-so would like a meeting’—that’s just the way the national government works, so I can’t say anything about that,” he said. “But I can say to the best of my knowledge … that the people they accused or implied gave money to the foundation just so they could have some in with Hillary did not do that. That’s simply not true.”
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