Subject: In email, Clinton office enlists allies to defend foundation - Nick Gass - POLITICO
From: "Eric Schwerin" <[email-masked]>
To: "Hunter Biden" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 2015 13:40:44 -0500

Eric D. Schwerin
Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC
1010 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Suite 705
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 333-1880
[email-masked] <x-msg://59/[email-masked]>
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> http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/clinton-foundation-defends-transparency-115659.html?hp=l3_4 <http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/clinton-foundation-defends-transparency-115659.html?hp=l3_4>
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> In email, Clinton office enlists allies to defend foundation
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> Clinton and daughter Chelsea will unveil findings on women’s progress in the last 20 years with Melinda Gates on March 9. | Getty
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> In email, Clinton office enlists allies to defend foundation
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> By Nick Gass <http://www.politico.com/reporters/NickGass.html>
> 3/2/15 12:43 PM EST
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> Hillary Clinton’s personal spokesman says the Clinton Foundation is being more transparent than any charity is required to be, in response to a series <http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/foreign-governments-gave-millions-to-foundation-while-clinton-was-at-state-dept/2015/02/25/31937c1e-bc3f-11e4-8668-4e7ba8439ca6_story.html> of stories <http://www.wsj.com/articles/foreign-government-gifts-to-clinton-foundation-on-the-rise-1424223031> highlighting the organization’s internal disagreements  <http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/03/clinton-foundation-eric-braverman-115598.html>and its acceptance <http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/clinton-foundation-foreign-donations-ethics-115527.html> of foreign donations.
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> In an email shared with Clinton allies, the spokesman, Nick Merrill, touts the foundation’s recent achievements and outlines talking points to use with reporters and friends ahead of the former secretary of state’s events next week.
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> Clinton and daughter Chelsea will unveil findings on women’s progress in the last 20 years with Melinda Gates on March 9. She will also address women’s and girls’ issues at the United Nations on March 10.
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> “It’s a false choice to suggest people can’t support political causes or candidates and also care about philanthropy and making a difference in the world,” the email says, noting that the foundation admitted to no signs of conflict or impropriety in reports from The Wall Street Journal and others.
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> “It’s a less sexy conclusion, but you’ll find it buried in these stories,” the email read.
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> The foundation did, however, acknowledge that an unsolicited $500,000 donation from the government of Algeria should have been reviewed by the State Department.
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> Foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation have been under particular scrutiny in recent weeks, at a time when the former secretary of state may be preparing to run for president. The note to supporters makes clear that the foundation would reevaluate its position should Clinton make a run for the White House.
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> “Something else you won’t find?” it continued. “Anyone questioning the fact that the Clinton Foundation’s work has improved the lives of millions across the globe. But you don’t hear them saying it either. And it’s important that doesn’t get lost in all of this, because it’s the most important part.”
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> Here’s the full email, which was first reported by Capital New York <http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2015/03/8563184/clinton-spokesman-circulates-pro-foundation-talking-points>:
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> ***
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> From: Nick Merrill
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> Date: Mon, Mar 2, 2015 at 9:53 AM
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> Subject: Clinton Foundation Stories
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> To: Nick Merrill
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> Cc: Craig Minassian
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> Hi all,
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> It’s been a little while since we’ve sent one of these, but given the attacks on the Clinton Foundation as of late, we wanted to send around some points in hopes that you will join us in defending the good work the Foundation does and will continue to do.
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> Below are some points that we hope you can hit when talking to reporters, are on air, or even just with friends and people in your communities. As you’ve probably seen reading the stories in the last couple of weeks, there has been little mention of the good work the Foundation does, and that it is without a doubt a world-class philanthropy.
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> Along those lines, we encourage you to visit the Clinton Foundation website to learn more about the work, and have included some specific links you may be interested in. As you may know, last week President Clinton completed a trip to Haiti to see the economic progress there, and this week President, Secretary and Chelsea Clinton will convene the 8th Clinton Global Initiative University in Miami.
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> Additionally, we’re looking forward to two major events for No Ceilings: The Full Participation Project. On March 9, Secretary Clinton and Chelsea, together with Melinda Gates, will roll out our progress report in written form as well as in a series of data visualizations onnoceilings.org to show the progress that women and girls have made around the world and the gaps that still remain since the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, when Secretary Clinton called on the international community to ensure that “women’s rights are human rights.” This is the culmination of over a year’s collaboration among the Clinton Foundation, the Gates Foundation, The Economist Intelligence Unit, the WORLD Policy Analysis Center at UCLA, and Fathom Information Design. On March 10, Secretary Clinton will speak at the United Nations to articulate her vision to reach full participation for women and girls in the 21st century.
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> Clinton Foundation Highlights:
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> 2013-2014 Foundation Annual Report
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> Haiti
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> Global Health
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> Women and Girls & No Ceilings: The Full Participation Project
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> Childhood Obesity
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> Economic Development
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> Climate Change
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> Clinton Global Initiative
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> Too Small to Fail
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> Job One
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> If you have any questions or thoughts, please feel free to email Craig and myself. We’re all ears and happy to help in anyway.
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> Thanks in advance.
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> Nick and Craig
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> BHCCF Top-line Talking Points
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> • The Clinton Foundation is a philanthropy, period. They receive contributions from around the world, because they’re doing groundbreaking, life-changing work around the globe.
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> • These contributions are important because they are responsible for millions of people getting access to life-saving HIV/AIDs treatment, more than 40,000 farmers in Malawi, Tanzania, and Rwanda improving their incomes by more than 500 percent; 33,500 tons of greenhouse gas emissions being reduced annually across the U.S.; supporting the Clinton Global Initiative whose members have made nearly 3,100 Commitments to Action to improving more than 430 million lives around the world and so much more. The list goes on.
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> • Let’s remember why journalists are able to dig through all these records. Because unlike many other similar charities, the Foundation voluntarily discloses all of its contributors’ names, right on the Clinton Foundation website. And it refuses to take anonymous contributions. No charity is required to do these, but the Clinton Foundation does it, on its own accord.
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> • As a result of that transparency, The Wall Street Journal was able to spend 9 months digging through all of this looking for signs of conflict and impropriety. Their conclusion? That, and I’m quoting here, “There is no evidence of that with the Clinton Foundation.” The Washington Post and The Guardian said the same thing in their stories. It’s a less sexy conclusion, but you’ll find it buried in these stories.
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> • Something else you won’t find? Anyone questioning the fact that the Clinton Foundation’s work has improved the lives of millions across the globe. But you don’t hear them saying it either. And it’s important that doesn’t get lost in all of this, because it’s the most important part.
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> • It’s a false choice to suggest people can’t support political causes or candidates and also care about philanthropy and making a difference in the world.
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> • Without these contributions, it’s clear what would have happened – fewer people would have access to affordable HIV/AIDS medication; fewer people would have access to clean water; fewer economic opportunities would be made available in developing communities in nations across Africa, Asia, and South; and fewer children in the US would have access to healthy foods.
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> • The Clinton Foundation is constantly re-evaluating its practices to ensure it runs as efficiently, effectively, and as transparently as possible. And it has said it will re-evaluate its contributor practices if Secretary Clinton runs, just as was done when she became Secretary of State.
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> • The bottom line: The ability to fund the Foundation is the ability to improve the lives of millions of people across the world. And while it’s appropriate to raise questions to ensure that money is being used as efficiently as possible to achieve its mission, it’s just as important to acknowledge that after much scrutiny, and when you cast aside those whose goal it is to make political hay, that this is a philanthropy, widely recognized as a successful one, and it does an enormous amount of good that the people who founded it and work there should be nothing but immensely proud of. Period.
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> Additional Points
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> • Almost all charities depend on outside support whether it’s your local non-profit one or a global philanthropy.
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> • The work of the Clinton Foundation is effective, which is why it has bipartisan support from places like News Corporation, Chris Ruddy of NewsMax, and counts among its contributors and CGI participants President George H.W. Bush, Laura Bush, Condi Rice, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Carly Fiorina, and dozens of governors and mayors from both sides of the aisle.
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> • Every penny of the money Algeria donated for Haiti went to help Haiti. People forget about the outpouring of support for those debased by the earthquake and the need to get money and supplies there quickly. The United Nations asked President Clinton to head Haiti relief and encouraged countries to support the effort. President Bush partnered with WJC to set up the Bush-Clinton Haiti Fund in part because the Clinton Foundation had an expertise in addressing such challenges efficiently and effectively - as they previously did with the Tsunami is SE Asia.
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> • People are trying to make this political forget the human toll of HIV/AIDs or earthquakes or that as governments have fewer resources around the world. That’s exactly where NGO’s need to step into the void to help improve people’s lives. When people call for the donations to be returned, they are dismissing the fact that lives will be affected, even lost.
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