While the journalists at Good Morning America on Friday hyped details on the "devastating" Bridgegate scandal that is creating a "headache" for Chris Christie's 2016 presidential bid, they avoided the latest on the unfolding revelations enveloping the Clinton Foundation and its foreign donors. However, CBS This Morning reporters actually covered the story, with Nancy Cordes alerting viewers that "the foundation acknowledged this week it did not disclose 1,100 mostly foreign donors" and that the organization "did not inform State Department ethics officials when foreign governments increased their donations."
A CBS graphic noted that critics see a "pattern of not disclosing donors." Cordes explained that Hillary Clinton violated claims made at her 2009 confirmation hearings and a memo declaring, "During any service by Secretary Clinton as Secretary of State, the foundation will publish annually the names of new contributors."
Over on ABC's GMA, Jon Karl trumpeted the news that there could be criminal charges coming in the Bridgegate controversy: "...The scandal that's already done devastating damage to [Christie's] political reputation is entering a new phase."
When it came to Clinton, however, the two hour-long program was silent. On Tuesday, George Stephanopoulos, a former Clinton operative turned journalist, wondered if the 2016 candidate faced a "double standard" because she's a woman.
On NBC, Today co-host Matt Lauer minimized the Clinton scandal to a few sentences:
LAUER: And the other man from Hope, Bill Clinton, is sure to keep the political world buzzing next week. He's in Africa for the Clinton Foundation while his wife's campaign is besieged by ethical questions over the foundation's donations.
On Thursday, the Boston Globe reported:
WASHINGTON — An unprecedented ethics promise that played a pivotal role in helping Hillary Rodham Clinton win confirmation as secretary of state, soothing senators’ concerns about conflicts of interests with Clinton family charities, was uniformly bypassed by the biggest of the philanthropies involved.
The Clinton Health Access Initiative never submitted information on any foreign donations to State Department lawyers for review during Clinton’s tenure from 2009 to 2013, Maura Daley, the organization’s spokeswoman, acknowledged to the Globe this week. She said the charity deemed it unnecessary, except in one case that she described as an “oversight.”
During that time, grants from foreign governments increased by tens of millions of dollars to the Boston-based organization.
A transcript of the May 1 segment is below:
7:16
CBS GRAPHIC: Clinton Foundation Controversy: Critics: Pattern of Not Disclosing Donors
GAYLE KING: Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton faces new questions this morning about her family's charity. The Clinton Foundation admits it did not reveal all of its foreign donors as promised while she was Secretary of State. Nancy Cordes is in Washington where the newest questions focus on one of the foundation's charities. Nancy, good morning.
NANCY CORDES: Good morning. Well, the Clinton foundation says these omissions were just oversights and that they were sporadic. But Clinton's critics say there was a pattern of non-disclosure which violated a very clear-cut agreement between the foundation and the White House.
HILLARY CLINTON: All contributors will be disclosed.
CORDES: Clinton made that promise at her confirmation hearing in 2009 and it was backed up by this memo of understanding. "During any service by Secretary Clinton as Secretary of State, the foundation will publish annually the names of new contributors."
BILL CLINTON: That's how the Clinton-Giustra Enterprise Partnership came to Peru.
CORDES: But the foundation acknowledged this week it did not disclose 1,100 mostly foreign donors to the Clinton-Giustra Enterprise Partnership, an affiliated charity based in Canada where privacy laws place more restrictions on naming donors. Another charity, the Clinton Health Action Initiative, did not inform State Department ethics officials when foreign governments increased their donations. State Department spokesperson Marie Harf:
MARIE HARF: If there were things that we should have been submitted that weren't, we obviously would have appreciated the opportunity to review them.
CORDES: Clinton herself has had little to say on the topic. [Cordes to Clinton as she walks by] Are you going to address those questions more fully? But foundation leaders say they're acting quick to remedy past mistakes.
SENATOR DAVID VITTER: One has the impression they didn't take this commission seriously from the very beginning.
CORDES: Louisiana Republican David Vitter raised the issue with Clinton back in 2009.
VITTER: A lot of folks legitimately share these concerns across the spectrum.
CORDES: Why was it important for them to disclose those foreign donations?
VITTER: Well, it's a big potential source of conflict of interest. You have huge amount of money coming in from foreign sources to an entity that's directly related to the Secretary of State.
CORDES: The Clinton campaign points out there's no evidence that Secretary Clinton was influenced by foreign donations to the foundation. But Vitter and others say it would not have been hard for a big organization like the foundation to fully disclose its donors as it agreed to. Charlie?
