Obama Defends Clinton Foundation: ‘Saved Countless Lives’
President Barack Obama attempted Tuesday to defend the Clinton Foundation against criticism that Hillary Clinton and her husband used it as a vehicle for self-enrichment and bribery, accepting donations from foreigners and companies with business before the State Department.
“You want to debate foundations and charities? One candidate’s family foundation has saved countless lives around the world. The other candidate’s foundation took money other people gave to his charity and then bought a six-foot-tall painting of himself,” Obama said at a Hillary Clinton rally in Philadelphia, referring to reports about the Donald J. Trump Foundation.
The Clinton Foundation was flagged by the Charity Navigator watchdog last year, which placed the Clintons’ charity on a “watch list” because of its “atypical business model.” Bill Allison of the Sunlight Foundation told the New York Post that the Foundation was “a slush fund for the Clintons.” In 2013, the Clinton Foundation only spent 10% of its budget on charity.
In the bestselling book Clinton Cash, Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer documented how donors to the Clinton Foundation were frequently given special deals, favors or treatment. In one case, a company controlled by the Russian government was allowed to gain control of 20% of American uranium after an investor involved in the deal donated handsomely to the Clinton Foundation.
Recently released State Department emails show foreigners using donations to the Clinton Foundation to secure meetings with Clinton as Secretary of State — meetings that could not be arranged through normal channels. The Associated Press reported that more than half of the private meetings Clinton had as Secretary were with donors to her family’s charity.
It is suspected Clinton set up her secret email server — exposing classified information in the process — to hide her activities on behalf of the Clinton Foundation while in office.
Obama has boasted “the most transparent administration in history.” He is campaigning on Clinton’s behalf as she recuperates for several days after collapsing at the 9/11 Memorial on Sep. 11, due to what her campaign claims is pneumonia.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. His new book, See No Evil: 19 Hard Truths the Left Can’t Handle, is available from Regnery through Amazon. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.