Former president Bill Clinton dismissed on Saturday suggestions that his foundation’s funds have been diverted to personal uses, calling such accusations a “personal insult” to his family amid renewed scrutiny of its fundraising and management practices.
The Clinton Foundation operates a range of philanthropic projects around the world and has raised billions since its founding, but that prodigious fundraising has come with accusations of influence peddling. The foundation has found itself in the spotlight recently, after the Justice Department announced earlier this month it was probing the organization for potentially engaging in improper dealings while Hillary Clinton served as Secretary of State.
Responding to renewed speculation about the foundation’s activities, the former president took to Twitter on Saturday to deny that the organization’s funds were not devoted to personal use. In his tweet, Clinton linked to a Washington Post article that sought to examine several of the facts at the heart of those accusations, which were first revealed by Wikileaks during the heat of the 2016 general election.
Despite scoring relatively high in accountability and transparency by nonprofit watchdogs, the foundation nonetheless became a flash-point in the 2016 election.
It was dogged by accusations of influence peddling, self dealing and conflicts of interests, due in large part to hefty contributions from foreign governments and other influential donors. Since the organization’s inception, tens of millions from big donors have flowed to the organization, according to the Foundation’s public database.
