The Clinton Foundation will continue to accept donations from foreign countries – but not from Saudi Arabia, donations from which have set off an embarrassing protest movement against newly-declared Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. Clinton resigned from the Foundation's Board of Directors last week as protests mounted in the media and on the campaign trail over the family foundation's acceptance of donations from Saudi Arabia, which denies women many of the rights Clinton and the foundation claim to stand for.
From now on, the foundation will accept funds only from six governments – Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom – with which there are not expected to be questions or issues regarding their rights policies.
An Associated Press investigation showed that between 2001 and 2015 the foundation received grants of between $55 million and $130 million annually from 16 donor countries, including the six that will be allowed to continue to donate. Seven of the donor countries - Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Kuwait, and Brunei – were Arab Middle Eastern states, most of which severely limited women's rights.
With that, the foundation did not say if it was going to return the funds it had already received, as many have been urging. Speaking last month, Kentucky Republican and presidential hopeful Rand Paul urged Clinton to return the money. There has been much talk of a war on women. “There is indeed a war on women . . . in Saudi Arabia," said Paul. "When Hillary Clinton claims she will support women's rights, ask her why she accepted millions of dollars from (Saudi Arabia)."