WASHINGTON – Days after the Clinton Foundation said it would stop accepting donations from corporations and foreign entities if Hillary Clinton becomes president, her campaign manager defended the organization's fundraising after criticism from Republicans and some Democrats.
"Over 10 million people around the world get important AIDS medication, lifesaving AIDS and HIV medication, because of the foundation," Robby Mook said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."
The foundation put into effect "unprecedented" protections that were "a big burden" when Clinton became secretary of state in 2009, and would "go even further in terms of disclosure and limits" if she becomes president, Mook said.
"This is important, lifesaving work, and there were some foreign governments like Australia and Norway, that were — that had existing donations to the foundation, and the foundation wanted them to be able to follow through on their commitment," he said.
Even if those steps will eventually prove necessary to avoid actual or apparent conflicts of interest, he suggested the foundation isn't going further unless Clinton became president.
Republicans have described the foundation as a venue for "pay to play" in which wealthy donors and foreign governments got access to Clinton through her family's philanthropic work. News reports have revealed repeated contact between staff members at the foundation and the U.S. State Department.
Some parts of the charity network, including the Clinton Health Access Initiative, which represented 66 percent of spending by Clinton-allied charities in 2014, are also still exempt from the rules, the Boston Globe reported Saturday.
Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat, told the New York Daily News that it would "be impossible to keep the foundation open without at least the appearance of a problem" if Clinton wins in November.
