Appearing on the campaign trail in Florida on Wednesday morning, former President Bill Clinton fired back against attacks on the Clinton Foundation, saying the organization is being unfairly maligned and operates in a fully “open and transparent” manner.
“Look, I spent 15 years building that thing … We’re open and transparent, and we put a huge percentage of the donations right into work,” Mr. Clinton said at a rally in Orlando. “If creating jobs and saving lives is bad, I guess you can zing me with it.”
The foundation has come under fire from GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump and a host of other critics for the way in which it did business while Hillary Clinton served as secretary of state. State Department records emails have shown that, among other things, Mrs. Clinton’s top aides sought to do political favors for foundation donors.
An Associated Press investigation also found that the majority of non-government individuals who met with Mrs. Clinton during her four years at the State Department were donors to the foundation.
The Clintons have denied that there was any wrongdoing, though they have said the foundation will cease accepting corporate and foreign donations and will take other steps to avoid conflicts of interest if Mrs. Clinton wins in November.
Mr. Clinton said the foundation has been painted in a negative light by Mr. Trump and by the media. He told a supportive Orlando crowd that the organization has done tremendous good around the world, including in the aftermath of the 2010 Haitian earthquake.
“I was down there before the earthquake, and afterwards I raised over $30 million to help. And then President Bush and I raised another $235 million, and then my global initiative set up a permanent project and raised more than $400 million,” he said. “Did I solve every problem? No. Did I get caught trying? You bet.”
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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