Hillary Clinton
Hillary ClintonReuters

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton admitted on Wednesday that some foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation made during her tenure as Secretary of State were not disclosed to the State Department.

Clinton’s admission is the first acknowledgement by the likely Democratic nominee that the foundation, chaired by her husband, former president Bill Clinton, received money from foreign sources off the books.

Speaking on CNN, the former First Lady responded to accusations by GOP presumptive nominee Donald Trump that Clinton had used her position in the State Department to provide political favors to foreign interest in exchange for donations to the Clinton Foundation.

“[T]he Russians, the Saudis, and the Chinese all gave money to Bill and Hillary and got favorable treatment in return,” Trump said on Tuesday.

Clinton claimed “overwhelming disclosure” saying that the bulk of donations were reported to the State Department during her tenure.

When pressed by CNN host Anderson Cooper, who noted examples of the foundation’s lack of transparency, Clinton admitted that in “one or two instances” some donations “slipped through the cracks”.

Citing donations including a large sum received from Algeria, Cooper noted the foundation’s failure to disclose donations.

“The foundation has obviously raised huge sums of money for worthy causes. It's always not been transparent, though. Tens of millions of dollars have come from a Canadian partnership whose donors can remain secret. There was a large donation from Algeria that wasn't submitted to State Department for approval. If you're president, will your husband divest himself of any association with the foundation?”

“We had absolutely, overwhelming disclosure,” Clinton responded. “Were there one or two instances that slipped through the cracks? Yes. But was the overwhelming amount of anything that anybody gave the foundation disclosed? Absolutely. And I'm proud of the foundation. I'm proud of the work it has done”.

The Clinton Foundation, which engages in humanitarian work, has been criticized for what some have described as a lack of transparency. Critics have accused Clinton of using the foundation to support staff members who later formed the core of her presidential campaign.