8 ms·

Nope. You're probably thinking of the $25m the Saudis gave to the Clinton Foundation, a non-profit humanitarian organization.

manbearpigg 9y ago
You believe that the Saudis donated 25 million dollars out of the kindness in their hearts, to an American foundation, run by Hilary Clinton, without any implication that the favor be returned?
- chasing 9y ago
  Hillary Clinton (two "L"s) never ran the Clinton Foundation. She spent two years on the Board. The President of the Clinton Foundation is Donna Shalala. And the person who probably actually leads it is the founder: Bill Clinton.
malchow 9y ago
...that spent significantly more money on luxury travel costs than it did on charitable grants. [1] [1] http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2014/311/580/2014-311580204-0c3ee98d-9.pdf http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2014/311/580/2014-3115...
- rhcom2 9y ago
  93.91/100 from Charity Navigator, spending 86.9% on programs and services.
- aaronbrethorst 9y ago
  Charitable grants are not a major focus of the Clinton Foundation, which instead uses most of its money to carry out its own humanitarian programs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_Foundation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_Foundation "Luxury" sounds like editorializing given the data you provide to back up your claim, which simply lists travel as being a $7.8mm cost and grants as a $4.1mm cost (page 10 of your linked PDF).
  - malchow 9y ago
    "On its 2013 tax forms, the most recent available, the foundation claimed it spent $30 million on payroll and employee benefits; $8.7 million in rent and office expenses; $9.2 million on “conferences, conventions and meetings”; $8 million on fundraising; and nearly $8.5 million on travel. None of the Clintons is on the payroll, but they do enjoy first-class flights paid for by the foundation. In all, the group reported $84.6 million in “functional expenses” on its 2013 tax return and had more than $64 million left over..." [1] [1] https://nypost.com/2015/04/26/charity-watchdog-clinton-foundation-a-slush-fund/ https://nypost.com/2015/04/26/charity-watchdog-clinton-found... So of $140M raised tax-free in 2013, half was spent keeping the operation going that very year.
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  Aside from the editorializing about "luxury", that's because it is a direct-action charity, not an pass-through charity that gives grants to other charities while skimming off the top for administrative expenses. So, yes, it spends more on travel (and lots of other things) than on charitable grants, because grants aren't the mechanism by which it's charitable purpose is realized.
esaym 9y ago
How is that not the same thing?
- chasing 9y ago
  Well, it's confusing because both include the word "Clinton," but one is a human being who, amongst other things, ran for President in 2016. The other is a non-profit humanitarian organization. Two different things.
  - xtian 9y ago
    Good grief. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8825813 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8825813
  - pamqzl 9y ago
    > non-profit humanitarian organization Which just happens to pay the Clintons' bills every time they feel like travelling anywhere, and direct money to whoever the Clintons want to do favours for. The election is over, we can all admit that the Clinton Foundation is pretty stinky.
    - GabrielF00 9y ago
      They've also helped millions of people get affordable AIDS medication. http://www.politifact.com/global-news/statements/2016/jun/15/hillary-clinton/clinton-clinton-foundation-helped-9-million-lower-/ http://www.politifact.com/global-news/statements/2016/jun/15...
      - takeda 9y ago
        Don't want to get into Trump vs Hilary debate, but don't you think it is a bit strange that nearly every rich individual has their own foundation? A foundation that most people don't know what is responsible for. Most of the time you don't hear it doing much either. Why for example some political entities donate large amount of money to these foundations instead of the ones that are proven to do something (like red cross). It feels like perhaps those foundations are there just to exploit a tax loophole, and that they donate once in a while to specific cause to satisfy their legal requirements.
scottmf 9y ago
It's a non-issue and you're really wasting your time responding to these attempts to suggest "both candidates were as corrupt as each other" in the 2016 election: "Nonetheless. looking at the Clinton Foundation’s donor list, Saudi Arabia gave between $10 million and $25 million. But the foundation reported the Saudi money in December 2008, and the amount hasn’t changed since. Clinton Foundation spokesman Brian Cookstra pointed out that Saudi Arabia did not give to the foundation while Secretary Clinton was at the State Department." Why people genuinely believe we should focus on this, rather than Donald Trump's ongoing business ties to Russia—and all of the blatant lies about it—I'll never know.
- 13years 9y ago
  If we are to accept the 'Clinton Foundation spokesman' as the definitive source of truth, then in fairness we would have to accept the administration's claims on Russia with the same merits. As to why, there seems to be more of a corrupt veil that obscures Saudi Arabia's true role in the world vs. Russia. For example https://news.vice.com/story/saudi-arabia-is-the-top-sponsor-of-terrorism-in-u-k-report-says https://news.vice.com/story/saudi-arabia-is-the-top-sponsor-...
  - scottmf 9y ago
    >If we are to accept the 'Clinton Foundation spokesman' as the definitive source of truth, then in fairness we would have to accept the administration's claims on Russia with the same merits. This is some bizarre logic.
    - 13years 9y ago
      Is it really bizarre to apply the same standards? Can the accused verify themselves innocent in one instance but not in another?
  - lern_too_spel 9y ago
    The Clinton Foundation publicly discloses all its donors. https://www.clintonfoundation.org/contributors https://www.clintonfoundation.org/contributors
teddy_r_bear 9y ago
A fund run by their daughter... http://time.com/3736221/chelsea-clinton-global-initiative-hillary/ http://time.com/3736221/chelsea-clinton-global-initiative-hi... ...that has been accused of sometimes using the foundation as a type of slush fund... http://nypost.com/2016/11/06/chelsea-clinton-used-foundation-to-help-pay-for-wedding-emails/ http://nypost.com/2016/11/06/chelsea-clinton-used-foundation... ...and doesn't always do what it promises... https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/15/us/politics/hillary-clinton-haiti.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/15/us/politics/hillary-clint...

manbearpigg 9y ago

You believe that the Saudis donated 25 million dollars out of the kindness in their hearts, to an American foundation, run by Hilary Clinton, without any implication that the favor be returned?

chasing 9y ago
Hillary Clinton (two "L"s) never ran the Clinton Foundation. She spent two years on the Board. The President of the Clinton Foundation is Donna Shalala. And the person who probably actually leads it is the founder: Bill Clinton.

malchow 9y ago

...that spent significantly more money on luxury travel costs than it did on charitable grants. [1] [1] http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2014/311/580/2014-311580204-0c3ee98d-9.pdf http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2014/311/580/2014-3115...

rhcom2 9y ago
93.91/100 from Charity Navigator, spending 86.9% on programs and services.
aaronbrethorst 9y ago
Charitable grants are not a major focus of the Clinton Foundation, which instead uses most of its money to carry out its own humanitarian programs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_Foundation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_Foundation "Luxury" sounds like editorializing given the data you provide to back up your claim, which simply lists travel as being a $7.8mm cost and grants as a $4.1mm cost (page 10 of your linked PDF).
- malchow 9y ago
  "On its 2013 tax forms, the most recent available, the foundation claimed it spent $30 million on payroll and employee benefits; $8.7 million in rent and office expenses; $9.2 million on “conferences, conventions and meetings”; $8 million on fundraising; and nearly $8.5 million on travel. None of the Clintons is on the payroll, but they do enjoy first-class flights paid for by the foundation. In all, the group reported $84.6 million in “functional expenses” on its 2013 tax return and had more than $64 million left over..." [1] [1] https://nypost.com/2015/04/26/charity-watchdog-clinton-foundation-a-slush-fund/ https://nypost.com/2015/04/26/charity-watchdog-clinton-found... So of $140M raised tax-free in 2013, half was spent keeping the operation going that very year.
dragonwriter 9y ago
Aside from the editorializing about "luxury", that's because it is a direct-action charity, not an pass-through charity that gives grants to other charities while skimming off the top for administrative expenses. So, yes, it spends more on travel (and lots of other things) than on charitable grants, because grants aren't the mechanism by which it's charitable purpose is realized.

esaym 9y ago

How is that not the same thing?

chasing 9y ago
Well, it's confusing because both include the word "Clinton," but one is a human being who, amongst other things, ran for President in 2016. The other is a non-profit humanitarian organization. Two different things.
- xtian 9y ago
  Good grief. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8825813 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8825813
- pamqzl 9y ago
  > non-profit humanitarian organization Which just happens to pay the Clintons' bills every time they feel like travelling anywhere, and direct money to whoever the Clintons want to do favours for. The election is over, we can all admit that the Clinton Foundation is pretty stinky.
  - GabrielF00 9y ago
    They've also helped millions of people get affordable AIDS medication. http://www.politifact.com/global-news/statements/2016/jun/15/hillary-clinton/clinton-clinton-foundation-helped-9-million-lower-/ http://www.politifact.com/global-news/statements/2016/jun/15...
    - takeda 9y ago
      Don't want to get into Trump vs Hilary debate, but don't you think it is a bit strange that nearly every rich individual has their own foundation? A foundation that most people don't know what is responsible for. Most of the time you don't hear it doing much either. Why for example some political entities donate large amount of money to these foundations instead of the ones that are proven to do something (like red cross). It feels like perhaps those foundations are there just to exploit a tax loophole, and that they donate once in a while to specific cause to satisfy their legal requirements.

scottmf 9y ago

It's a non-issue and you're really wasting your time responding to these attempts to suggest "both candidates were as corrupt as each other" in the 2016 election: "Nonetheless. looking at the Clinton Foundation’s donor list, Saudi Arabia gave between $10 million and $25 million. But the foundation reported the Saudi money in December 2008, and the amount hasn’t changed since. Clinton Foundation spokesman Brian Cookstra pointed out that Saudi Arabia did not give to the foundation while Secretary Clinton was at the State Department." Why people genuinely believe we should focus on this, rather than Donald Trump's ongoing business ties to Russia—and all of the blatant lies about it—I'll never know.

13years 9y ago
If we are to accept the 'Clinton Foundation spokesman' as the definitive source of truth, then in fairness we would have to accept the administration's claims on Russia with the same merits. As to why, there seems to be more of a corrupt veil that obscures Saudi Arabia's true role in the world vs. Russia. For example https://news.vice.com/story/saudi-arabia-is-the-top-sponsor-of-terrorism-in-u-k-report-says https://news.vice.com/story/saudi-arabia-is-the-top-sponsor-...
- scottmf 9y ago
  >If we are to accept the 'Clinton Foundation spokesman' as the definitive source of truth, then in fairness we would have to accept the administration's claims on Russia with the same merits. This is some bizarre logic.
  - 13years 9y ago
    Is it really bizarre to apply the same standards? Can the accused verify themselves innocent in one instance but not in another?
- lern_too_spel 9y ago
  The Clinton Foundation publicly discloses all its donors. https://www.clintonfoundation.org/contributors https://www.clintonfoundation.org/contributors

teddy_r_bear 9y ago

A fund run by their daughter... http://time.com/3736221/chelsea-clinton-global-initiative-hillary/ http://time.com/3736221/chelsea-clinton-global-initiative-hi... ...that has been accused of sometimes using the foundation as a type of slush fund... http://nypost.com/2016/11/06/chelsea-clinton-used-foundation-to-help-pay-for-wedding-emails/ http://nypost.com/2016/11/06/chelsea-clinton-used-foundation... ...and doesn't always do what it promises... https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/15/us/politics/hillary-clinton-haiti.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/15/us/politics/hillary-clint...