Hillary Clinton said Friday her family’s foundation is “looking for partners” to help separate its work from her potential election as president, but again insisted that such an effort would take “a long time.”
The Democratic candidate was again defending the Clinton Foundation, a nonprofit organization that works around the world, as it draws criticism for the nature of its donors and potential for conflict of interest with Clinton’s political offices.
“Here’s what we’re going to make sure of, that the good work that these programs are doing continues,” Clinton told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “We’re going to be testing (transferring responsibility), and that’s why the Clinton Foundation is looking for partners … not necessarily the same partner for all of the work.”
Clinton also responded to what she called a “fair question” from host Joe Scarborough as to why the Clintons are not transferring the foundation’s work to other nonprofits to ensure there’s no potential for conflict of interest if Clinton were elected.
“I appreciate the concerns that people have expressed, and that’s why I’ve made it clear that if I’m successful in November, we are going to be taking additional steps,” Clinton said. “But the fact is, winding down some of these programs takes a long time, you don’t just turn … off a switch.”
The Clintons have announced that if she is elected president, they will stop accepting foreign donations and corporate donations, and both Hillary and Bill Clinton will separate themselves from the organization. But their daughter, Chelsea Clinton, will continue with the foundation and the organization will continue to do its work, which includes public health, economic and empowerment efforts globally.
Clinton called the work her foundation has done “transformational” and noted that her husband teamed up with former President George W. Bush in the effort to bring down the costs of AIDS medication.
She also insisted that there was no conflict of interest when she was secretary of state, nor was she “influenced” by the foundation.
Pressed whether she would be launching the same attacks she is facing if roles were reversed and a Republican was in her shoes, Clinton said that wouldn’t be the case.
“I would not be criticizing, I would be looking at the work. And if there were no evidence … that there was any conflict, I would say, ‘Look, I appreciate the work that they did,'” Clinton said.
