GOP committee chair spins Clinton Foundation contributions too far

Says Hillary Clinton took “money from kings of Saudi Arabia and Morocco and Oman and Yemen.”

— Reince Priebus on Sunday, April 12th, 2015 in an interview

Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus recently attacked Hillary Clinton’s foundation fund-raising on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Priebus appeared on the program after U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who declared for president several days before Clinton. Paul told host Bob Schieffer that Clinton will have a problem with women voters because “she has taken money from countries that abuse the rights of women,” and he referred to Saudi Arabia.

Schieffer later noted that Saudi Arabia had given money to Clinton’s foundation, and then while interviewing Priebus, said Clinton couldn’t use that money personally.

Schieffer added:

“But it also occurs to me, a lot of your candidates and the Democrats as well, are going to be taking campaign contributions that we are never going to know where they come from — but now you can give these unbelievable amounts of money without any accounting of where the money comes from.”

Priebus replied with a claim about kings and cash:

“But the difference is, all those other entities — Super PACs, parties, individual candidates — they can’t take money from kings of Saudi Arabia and Morocco and Oman and Yemen, and that’s what Hillary Clinton did. And so she’s going to have to account for this money.”

Let’s sort it all out.

Not only Republicans are raising questions about whether the Clinton Foundation is taking millions of dollars a year from governments and other donors that want political influence. The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Politico and CBS News have run stories about the questions.

The foundation emailed PolitiFact a statement saying: “Like other global charities, the Clinton Foundation receives support from individuals, organizations and governments from all over the world because the foundation’s programs improve the lives of millions of people around the globe.”

The charity, originally named the William J. Clinton Foundation, was launched in 2001 by former President Bill Clinton. Its aim is to partner with government and non-government organizations to tackle issues such as AIDS and poverty. The foundation has received millions of dollars from foreign governments, as PolitiFact National found in February 2015 when it rated that claim by a conservative group as True.

When Hillary Clinton became secretary of state in 2009, under President Barack Obama, the foundation agreed to disclose its donors at the request of the White House. When she left the Cabinet post, in February 2013, the foundation became the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, with Hillary Clinton taking an active role in fund-raising.

Clinton resigned from the foundation’s board just before announcing her candidacy.

An important note: Candidates for office are prohibited by law from accepting campaign contributions from foreign governments, but foundations have no such restriction.

Here’s what we know about the four countries cited by Priebus:

Saudi Arabia

The kingdom gave between $10 million and $25 million to the Clinton Foundation between the time the foundation was created through 2014, and some portion of the funds was contributed in 2014, according to the foundation’s search-able database.

(The database only reports ranges of the total amounts given and does not provide a breakdown by year, except that it notes which donors made a contribution in 2014.)

Saudi Arabia has long been regarded by the United States as a friend and a “strong partner in regional security and counter-terrorism efforts,” according to the State Department.

Oman

The Sultanate of Oman gave the foundation between $1 million and $5 million through 2014, including contributions given in 2014, according to the foundation database.

The U.S. and Oman have been parties to a military cooperation agreement since 1980.

Morocco

Four days before Clinton announced her run, Politico reported that the foundation was accepting at least $1 million from a Moroccan government-owned company to hold a high-profile conference in May 2015 in Marrakech with the king of Morocco.

The article noted that in 2011, Clinton’s State Department had accused the Moroccan government of “arbitrary arrests and corruption in all branches of government,” but that when she announced the conference in September 2014, she praised Morocco as “a vital hub for economic and cultural exchange.”

The U.S. regards Morocco as a “strong partner in counter-terrorism efforts,” according to the State Department.

Yemen

Neither the Post nor the Politico articles, which were cited to us by Priebus’ office, reported any donations to the foundation from Yemen. And a spokesman for the foundation told us the country has never been a donor.

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