Clinton Foundation on Donor Disclosure: ‘We Made Mistakes’
After a week of scrutiny about its donation disclosures and potential conflicts of interest, the Clinton Foundation released a statement Sunday morning admitting “mistakes” in its disclosure process and vowing more transparency in the future.
The statement comes in response to allegations made in the forthcoming book Clinton Cash by Peter Schweizer, who alleges a pattern of donations taken by the Clinton Foundation and favorable actions taken by Hillary Clinton while Secretary of State.
A Russian conglomerate’s purchase a Canadian uranium company has received particular scrutiny, as Clinton’s State Department signed off on the deal following a $2.3 million donation to the Clinton Foundation. Clinton’s defenders reply that the State Department was one of nine agencies to approve the deal, and that no evidence has been presented showing Clinton had any direct influence on it.
Acting CEO Maura Pally said the Foundation had taken multiple steps to maintain transparency and avoid conflicts between the Foundation’s work and Clinton’s role at the State Department. She maintained that the non-disclosure of donors via a Canadian branch of the Clinton Foundation was not an evasion of transparency but simply fulfillment of Canadian charity law.
Pally also addressed the non-disclosure of some donations, arguing it was essentially a bookkeeping error:
I also want to address questions regarding our 990 tax forms. We have said that after a voluntary external review is completed we will likely refile forms for some years. While some have suggested that this indicates a failure to accurately report our total revenue, that is not the case. Our total revenue was accurately reported on each year’s form – our error was that government grants were mistakenly combined with other donations. Those same grants have always been properly listed and broken out and available for anyone to see on our audited financial statements, posted on our website.
So yes, we made mistakes, as many organizations of our size do, but we are acting quickly to remedy them, and have taken steps to ensure they don’t happen in the future. We are committed to operating the Foundation responsibly and effectively to continue the life-changing work that this philanthropy is doing every day. I encourage you to read more about that good work at www.clintonfoundation.org.
Read the full statement here.
[Image via Anthony Correia / Shutterstock.com]
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