The Clinton Foundation needs “some time” before being able to stop accepting money from overseas donors, says the campaign of US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
“The foundation is doing an enormous amount of work, and it takes time when you're in a number of countries around the world to retool, refocus the mission and adapt,” Robby Mook, Clinton’s campaign manager, told CNN on Sunday.
"They receive a great deal of funding through these streams. And it will just take some time for them to readjust,” he added.
Initially, Mook tried to change the topic and dodge the question by suggesting that the foundation is currently focused on defeating Donald Trump, Clinton’s Republican rival, in the race for the White House.
“I don't think you heard these questions when members of the Bush family continued to serve on boards for the first President Bush's foundation,” he said.
Founded in 2001 by former President Bill Clinton, the foundation claims it is working to solve a range of issues from health and wellness to gender inequality across the world.
However, the organization has come under bipartisan fire for its foreign funding and the true nature of its activities over the past years.
Earlier this month, newly released emails from Clinton’s time as the former secretary of state raised questions about possible links between the department and the Clinton Foundation.
According to the emails, the foundation appears to have directly influenced some of the department’s decisions at the time.
This week, when the foundation announced its decision to cut foreign funds, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus responded by saying the move was “too little, too late.”
“Now that they have admitted there is a problem, the Clinton Foundation should immediately cease accepting foreign donations and return every penny ever taken from other countries, several of which have atrocious human rights records and ties to terrorism,” he noted.
Trump’s campaign also attacked what they call Clinton’s “pay-for-play” policy, with newly appointed manager Kellyanne Conway calling the Clinton family “low-class grifters.”
Hillary left the family foundation’s board last year. Her husband Bill and their daughter Chelsea will also step down if she is elected president.
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