Bill Clinton Tells Billboard: Foundation Could Still Accept Foreign Cash if Hillary Wins

Bill Clinton and rocker Jon Bon Jovi cover Billboard magazine’s November issue for a special feature exploring the former president’s work with the Clinton Global Initiative, in which he explains how the Clinton Foundation could continue to accept cash from foreign donors if Hillary Clinton wins the presidency.

The Clinton Global Initiative celebrated its final event in New York City in September with the help of rock stars Bon Jovi, Sting and U2 frontman Bono. Both Bill and Hillary Clinton have previously stated they would leave their eponymous foundation if the latter is elected president on November 8.

In an interview with Billboard conducted at the CGI’s final event, Bill Clinton said he would “miss this a lot,” but offered up a vision for what the organization could look like if his wife does indeed become president, and in particular, how it could potentially get around the issue of accepting foreign donations.

“What we’re going to do is take everything that’s funded by ­foreign funds and either spin it all to independent ­foundations that I’m not involved in, or we’re going to make those things independent and let them be taken over by someone else,” Clinton told the outlet. “But in America we should still be able to run a lot of these health programs with just individual contributions, not corporate.”

Veteran rocker Sting, who appeared at the event for his work on behalf of rainforest preservation, told Billboard that the American people can’t afford to see Clinton “be sidelined.”

“His work is grounded in genuine empathy for people,” the former Police frontman said. “‘I feel your pain’ is not just a cliché for him.”

The Daily Mail reported that September’s CGI drew “fewer CEOs, stars and Republicans” in its final year as allegations of corruption have hurt the organization’s reputation and made it a liability during Hillary Clinton’s presidential run. The organization has also been continuously buffeted by revelations from WikiLeaks’ ongoing release of thousands of internal Clinton campaign emails.

 

Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum