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Politifact: Conservative group says Clinton Foundation took millions from foreign governments

 
American Crossroads released a video Feb. 23 that alleges that "the Clintons' foundation took millions from foreign governments" including "up to $5 million" from the United Arab Emirates and "up to $25 million" from Saudi Arabia.  [Getty Images]
American Crossroads released a video Feb. 23 that alleges that "the Clintons' foundation took millions from foreign governments" including "up to $5 million" from the United Arab Emirates and "up to $25 million" from Saudi Arabia. [Getty Images]
Published March 3, 2015

A group founded by Karl Rove launched one of the first salvos of the 2016 presidential election cycle with a Web video attacking presumed Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.

American Crossroads released a video Feb. 23 that alleges that "the Clintons' foundation took millions from foreign governments" including "up to $5 million" from the United Arab Emirates and "up to $25 million" from Saudi Arabia. The video shows photos of Clinton meeting with various foreign delegates and leaders.

The audio comes from a speech given by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat from the party's progressive wing, who warns that "powerful interests have tried to capture Washington and rig the system in their favor."

We should note off the bat that Warren's remarks were ripped from two separate speeches aimed at limiting money from corporations and Super PACs in politics, which were then merged and cut to eliminate those references. They certainly weren't about Clinton or foundations or foreign governments.

PolitiFact wanted to fact-check whether Bill and Hillary Clinton's foundation has indeed received large sums of money from foreign governments. American Crossroads did not respond to a voicemail and emails.

Former President Bill Clinton started the William J. Clinton Foundation in 2001 as a nonprofit philanthropy for global development. The organization tackles quality-of-life issues, such as AIDS, poverty and climate change.

When Hillary Clinton became secretary of state in 2009, the foundation agreed to disclose its donors at the request of the White House. According to a memorandum of understanding, the foundation could continue to collect donations from countries with which it had existing relationships. If contributions from those countries increased significantly or a new foreign government wanted to make a donation, the State Department would have to first approve.

We should emphasize there is nothing illegal about the contributions. Candidates for office are prohibited by law from accepting campaign contributions from foreign governments, but foundations have no such restriction. But the foundation presented ethical quandaries when Clinton was a candidate for president in 2008 and when she was secretary of state. At that time, though, the foundation was her husband's project, not hers.

That changed when Clinton left the State Department. In 2013, the foundation became the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, with Hillary Clinton taking an active role in fundraising.

Throughout the years, donors have included celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz, businesses like eBay and Pepsi, and other nonprofits, like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. And, yes, some governments.

So which countries and foreign governments have donated to her organization? We pulled the information from the Clinton Foundation website, which tracks donors by contribution range. We don't have exact amount for each donation, nor do we know when the contribution was made—except donations made in 2014, which were marked on the site.

Given those limitations, we found 19 foreign governments have donated $25,000 or more to the Clintons' foundation, for a total of between $51.3 million and $132.6 million.

Throughout the years, five of those governments have contributed more than $5 million to the Clinton Foundation, putting them among the top 25 of all donors that have contributed more than $5 million. Those include Saudi Arabia, Norway, Australia, Kuwait, and the Netherlands. Also, six of the 19 countries made donations to the Clinton Foundation in 2014: Germany, Canada, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Australia and Saudi Arabia.

So the assertion at the center of the ad is accurate: The Clinton Foundation did, in fact, take millions from foreign governments. Additionally, the ad singled out two countries—the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia—that have donated to the foundation since Hillary Clinton officially joined her family's foundation.

Clinton Foundation spokesman Craig Minassian said most of the money from foreign countries is earmarked for specific projects and grants, like AIDS relief. Minassian said that the ad implied nefarious dealings, and that isn't the case.

"I just have a problem with the premise of the ad," Minassian said. "It's the same premise when people say we're the same as a Super PAC. We're not; we're philanthropy. This is what NGOs do."

Larry Noble, senior counsel for the Campaign Legal Center in Washington, told PolitiFact that there are a number of reasons why it would be difficult for the Clinton's foundation to spend its money in partisan politics.

For one thing, the foreign contributions would make such donations problematic if not illegal. Also, Hillary Clinton now has a direct interest in the foundation, so the foundation couldn't give to a Super PAC that supports her. (Rules say a Super PAC has to operate independently of the candidate.) Finally, the foundation is a tax-exempt nonprofit, so it couldn't directly spend its money on campaign activities.

This doesn't exempt Clinton from questions about whether foreign governments are hoping to gain influence with their big donations. Over the years, the Clinton Foundation has taken millions of dollars from foreign governments. This includes between $1 million and $5 million from the United Arab Emirates and between $10 million and $25 million from Saudi Arabia. At least a portion of those donations came in 2014, after Clinton left the State Department and formally joined the family's foundation that had previously been in her husband's name alone. So we rate the ad's statement True.

Edited for print. Read more at PolitiFact.com.