White House dodges questions on Clinton Foundation donations

The White House ducked questions Thursday about a foreign donation that violated the administration’s ethics agreement with the Clinton Foundation, saying only that President Obama is “very pleased” with Hillary Rodham Clinton’s service as secretary of state.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest wouldn’t say whether Mr. Obama was disappointed that the Clinton Foundation accepted foreign donations, including $500,000 from the government of Algeria, while Mrs. Clinton was serving as the president’s top envoy during his first term.

“The president is obviously very pleased with the way Secretary Clinton represented the United States around the globe,” Mr. Earnest said.

But he said it was up to the State Department and the Clinton Foundation to enforce the terms of the ethics agreement that Mrs. Clinton had negotiated with Mr. Obama’s presidential transition team in late 2008, before she was sworn in as Secretary of State.

“They’re ultimately responsible for executing the agreement,” Mr. Earnest said of State Department officials. “And obviously there was some responsibility at the Clinton Foundation.”

The Clinton Foundation was on the defensive this week after disclosing that it had accepted millions of dollars from several foreign governments while Mrs. Clinton was secretary of state, including the donation from Algeria to its Haiti earthquake relief fund in 2010.

Foundation officials acknowledged this week that they should have sought approval from the State Department’s ethics office for that donation.

“As the Clinton Foundation did with all donations it received for earthquake relief, the entire amount of Algeria’s contribution was distributed as aid in Haiti,” the foundation said in a statement. “This donation was disclosed publicly on our website, however, the State Department should have also been formally informed. This was a one-time, specific donation to help Haiti and Algeria had not donated to the Clinton Foundation before and has not since.”

At the time of the contribution, Algeria was accused of human-rights abuses and was lobbying the State Department heavily for relief.