Ethics and the Blind Clinton Trust

Originally posted March 10, 2015.

It’s easy to expect the worst from the Clintons, because that’s what you usually get. Kimberley A. Strassel of the WSJ asks, isn’t it about time we drop the fiction that the Clinton Foundation is a charity? From the WSJ, here is a list of just a few countries that have donated to the Foundation:

• United Arab Emirates gave between $1 million and $5 million in 2014.

• The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has given between $10 million and $25 million since the foundation was created in 1999.

• Qatar’s government committee preparing for the 2022 soccer World Cup gave between $250,000 and $500,000 in 2014. Qatar’s government had previously donated between $1 million and $5 million.

• Oman, which had made a donation previously, gave an undisclosed amount in 2014. Over time, Oman has given the foundation between $1 million and $5 million. Prior to last year, its donations fell in the same range.

Does the Democratic Party understand the challenges facing Hillary should she run for president in 2016, asks Ms. Strassel.

“It’s hard to label your GOP opponent anti-woman when the Clinton Foundation is funded by countries that bar women from voting and driving like Saudi Arabia. It’s hard to call your GOP opponent a heartless capitalist—out of tune with middle-class anxieties—when you owe your foundation’s soul to Canadian mining magnates and Ethiopian construction billionaires. And it’s hard to claim you will fix a burning world when you owe foundation gratitude to countries holding the fossil-fuel blowtorches.”

Summing it up perfectly is a quote from Michael Short, spokesman for Republican National Committee: “When that 3 a.m. phone call comes, do voters really want to have a president on the line who took truckloads of cash from other countries?”