Vogel: Clinton’s Inner Circle Wishes Bill Would End Cozy Relationships with Foreign Donors

DIAZ-BALART: “And how much talk is there among Hillary’s strategist that former President Bill Clinton should scale back his role in the foundation because he’s clearly the guy who was out there, he’s the face of it, he is the image, a big magnet in a draw.”
VOGEL: “Yeah, that’s right. He really built this foundation from just a handful of employees in Little Rock and New York to this sprawling $2 billion international enterprise with thousands of employees around the world and it’s largely about him. And both Chelsea Clinton and Hillary Clinton joined it in recent years, but it’s still kind of Bill Clinton’s baby and there’s some suggestion by his continued involvement in it, his continued fund-raising for it, his continued hosting of meetings, including one coming up next week in Marrakech, Morocco, it’s just going to continue the scrutiny of his relationships with these donors, including some who are going to continue to be involved like the Ukrainian oligarch Victor Pinchuck and Canadian mining mogul Frank Giustra. They are really at the center of some of these scandals, some of these allegations  donations for access. Bill Clinton is very close to them and some folks who I talked to in the Clinton’s inner circle want him to step back from these relationships and step back from the foundation. They say if he doesn’t it’s an invitation for continued scrutiny during Hillary’s presidential campaign."
DIAZ-BALART: “Again, you said it was $2 billion?”
VOGEL: “That’s right. $2 billion is how much the Clinton Foundation has taken in over the years from donors around the world foreign donor, foreign governments, domestic donors, including many who will be very supportive of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. So there, too, you have this overlap that is kind of discomfiting to Democrats and is seen as an appealing target to Republicans.”