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 Clinton, the front-runner to become the 2016 Democratic nominee
for president, signed on to the transparency agreement with Obama's
incoming administration in late 2008 before becoming secretary of
state.
Reince Priebus, the Republican National Committee chairman, appealed
to the White House after Clinton Foundation and Clinton Health
Access Initiative (CHAI) officials confirmed to Reuters last week
that no complete list of donors had been published since early 2010,
a year into Clinton's four-year tenure at the State Department.
Clinton's political opponents have taken her to task, ahead of next
month's expected announcement of her candidacy, for allowing the
charities to accept money from foreign governments. Her husband,
former President Bill Clinton, also signed the transparency
agreement in December 2008.
In a letter to the White House on Wednesday, a copy of which was
obtained by Reuters, Priebus wrote the agreement "was billed to the
public and Congress as a pledge toward transparency and the
avoidance of conflicts of interest."
"The American people deserve to know whether it was nothing more
than a memorandum between parties that had no real interest in
either of those goals," Priebus wrote. The agreement, he added, "at
times was blatantly ignored."
The letter cited reports by Reuters and the Washington Post that the
Clinton Foundation and associated charities accepted foreign
government money without first seeking a review by State Department
lawyers, as promised in the agreement.
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Senator David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, raised concerns about
Clinton's philanthropy work during her nomination hearing in January
2009.
"I have no way to judge motive," he said in a phone interview, "but
after the enormous attention and discussion that went into this
issue during Hillary's confirmation process, it amazes me that more
effort wasn't put into living up to their commitments."
The Clinton Foundation, best known for reducing the cost of drugs
for people with HIV in the developing world, has said collaboration
with foreign governments is essential for its humanitarian work.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest declined to comment when asked
about the Republican letter by reporters on Wednesday. The White
House has declined to answer questions from Reuters about when it
first learned the transparency agreement was breached.
(Additional reporting by Julia Edwards in Washington; Editing by
Howard Goller)
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