Richard Pollock of the Daily Caller documents the financial impact of the recent election on Clinton Foundation donations.
Clinton Foundation officials were able to attract only five new donors between July 1 and September 30 — the controversial charity’s third quarter — The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Investigative Group has learned.
Foundation officials delayed release of the quarterly report of its latest donors on its website until the after the Nov. 8 presidential election, which former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lost to Republican rival Donald Trump.
The low number of new donors may indicate potential contributors were frightened away by repeated news reports that the Clinton charity is under FBI investigation regarding multiple allegations of “pay-to-play” influence-peddling schemes involving both Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton, as well as their key political aides.
“A lot of questions have been raised, and I think donors are understandably cautious about getting involved with this deeply troubled charity,” Charles Ortel, a Wall Street analyst and philanthropy expert, told TheDCNF.
Cleta Mitchell, a Washington, D.C., attorney who specializes in nonprofit foundations, told TheDCNF, “Since the Clinton Foundation was all built on influence peddling with, by and for the Clintons, in order to enrich them, the question is: who will the Clintons now be able to influence? What will the influence seekers now get for their money?”
Mitchell said the foundation should shut its doors because it is a “sham charitable organization.” The foundation has been at the center of virtually continuous controversies about its funding and programs since its 1997 founding, thanks in great part to its accepting contributions from foreign governments, politically powerful billionaires and troubled banks.
