Hillary Clinton fundraiser out as Clinton Foundation hit by 'slush fund' verdict

Trump risks jail by slamming 'Trump-hating judge' outside hush-money trial - as his glam assistant arrives in support and MORE potential jurors are canned after answering 'most exhaustive questionnaire' EVER used
Disheveled mugshot emerges of teacher, 45, found naked in back of car with male student, 17, as she appears in court after cheating on her Department of Defense chief husband
Iranian-American attorney and activist slams pro-Palestine protesters for 'twerking on TikTok' and supporting Hamas, Houthis and Hezbollah: 'You have completely lost it and are supporting a terrorist regime'
Defiant Mike Johnson says 'I'm not resigning': Speaker slams 'absurd' mission to oust him as ANOTHER Republican joins Marjorie Taylor Greene's in calling for his head
Ozempic warning: 21 year-old woman develops deadly blood complication after taking Mounjaro for just three weeks
MAGA supporters brutal message to Washington: What Trump supporters REALLY think about the GOP - and exactly what the party needs to do
Biden gets poll boost with highest rating since November and heads to his birth place to campaign as Trump is stuck in court
Tens of millions of Americans under warnings as brutal storm barrels through the country bringing tornadoes and flooding - are you in its path?
Netflix finance expert reveals 'magic' method that will help ANYONE secure a $10,000 raise without doing ANY extra work: 'It's not hard to do'
Rory McIlroy says bombshell $850m LIV Golf rumors are FALSE and he 'will play on the PGA Tour for the rest of my career' as Ryder Cup star categorically rejects shock reports of a move to Saudi-backed rebel circuit
Woman, 24, who became a prostitute at AGE 15 to earn money for a PHONE lays bare her 'wild' experiences with 'old, unattractive' clients and 'violent pimps'
REVEALED: 50 traumatized Israeli revellers have killed themselves since Hamas terror attack on Nova festival on October 7 - while multiple others have been sectioned
Russia's arms pact with Iran: Moscow pledges fighter jets and air defenses to Tehran including missiles capable of shooting down US and Israeli stealth planes
Sex for KFC: What REALLY happened between guards and inmates at California women's prison where Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman served time as it's shut down over 'rape club' scandal
America's electric vehicle push happened 'too soon and too fast,' warn ex-auto executives - but former Big Three boss insists hybrids ARE the future
The 15 revolutionary tiny tweaks that can turbocharge your health - from the simple way to lose half a stone to the tricks that slash your risk of cancer
Billionaire oil heiress Ivy Getty, 29, files for DIVORCE from model husband Tobias Engel just four years after star-studded wedding - as she faces court battle despite prenup
Inside the 'housing cartel' accused of pushing up the cost of YOUR rent: Legal battle breaks out over niche tech firm that helps landlords fix prices
New York's 'Mr Nasty' strikes again! Razor-tongued restaurateur Keith McNally lays into 'revolting' Lauren Sanchez
Waiting on a tax refund from the IRS? Here's when you can expect a rebate - and how to track its status
Boeing says there are NO fatigue cracks on older 787s that have undergoneaon whistleblower claims
Seattle cosmetic surgeon who performs sex changes illegally blocked negative reviews by forcing patients to sign NDAs and threatening them with $250,000 fines, judge rules
Travis Barker's daughter, 18, shares racy bikini-clad snaps after declaring herself 'naturally beautiful' amid claims she's had too much cosmetic surgery
Irish firefighter charged with raping girl after St Patrick's Day parade in Boston appears in court after 'trying to flee country'

Acting Clinton Foundation CEO Maura Pally said 'Yes, we made mistakes'
Fund 'mistakenly combined' government grants and other donations
Foundation faces criticism after report it received millions from executive who sold uranium company to Russia in State Department-approved deal
Pally said Canadian law prevented its partner from disclosing the donation
Took in $140 million in 2013 and spent on $84.6 million on payroll and operations and just $9 million on direct aid

By Francesca Chambers For Dailymail.com and Associated Press

Published: 10:11 EDT, 27 April 2015 | Updated: 03:42 EDT, 24 May 2015

e-mail

A Democratic fundraiser who had planned to bundle money for Hillary Clinton now says he's 'on the fence' over charges of impropriety that have been levied at her family foundation.

The influential money man, Jon Cooper, told the Washington Times he has put on hold his plans to contact 10,000 possible donors on Clinton's behalf.

'It’s just the drip, drip, drip that is a little concerning, and I just wish that there would have been a more forceful response from the Clinton campaign to some of this,' he said, referring to both the controversy involving the Clinton Foundation and the former secretary of state's emails.

Cooper said 'there are some valid questions that are being raised by good people,' and Clinton's camp needs to 'have better answers to some of these questions.'

An influential government watchdog meanwhile said that it had put the Clinton Foundation on a 'watch list' - where it joins Al Sharpton's National Action Network - while a senior staffer at another oversight organization said the non-profit is operating as a 'slush fund' for the Clintons, one of America's most powerful political families.

The backlash comes as the acting chief executive of the global charity acknowledged over the weekend that the organization made mistakes in disclosing its donors.

The acting CEO of the Clinton Foundation apologized after Hillary Clinton's presidential candidacy put it under intense scrutiny for undisclosed donations. Above, Clinton speaks at a foundation event in December

SUSPICION: Bill Allison, left, a senior fellow at the non-partisan government watchdog the Sunlight Foundation, has accused the Clinton Foundation of operating 'as a slush fund' for the former first family. Jon Cooper, right, a Democratic fundraiser who had planned to bundle money for Hillary Clinton, now says he's 'on the fence' over charges of impropriety that have been levied at her family foundation

The swirling controversy surrounding the Clinton Foundation came after portions of the book 'Clinton Cash' began appearing in media reports.

The author, Government Accountability Institute president Peter Schweizer, lays out in the book a series of instances where foreign governments or companies linked to them received favorable treatment from then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton following large financial gifts to her family foundation.

After Schweizer's reports surfaced about the previously unknown gifts and a donor who was selling his uranium company to a Russian state agency at the same time the State Department approved the sale, the foundation's acting CEO Maura Pally defended the global charity's work and reaffirmed its commitment to transparency.

She described its policies on donor disclosure and contributions from foreign governments as 'stronger than ever.'

The fund had been under growing scrutiny as Hillary Clinton opens her presidential campaign, and its sloppy financial reporting is already threatening to derail her ride to the top of the political pyramid.

Pally said the foundation expected to refile some of its tax forms, following a voluntary external review, because it had 'mistakenly combined' government grants and donations.

She said the foundation would 'remedy' any errors but stressed the total revenue was reported accurately and that grants were properly broken out on audited statements on its website.

'Yes, we made mistakes, as many organizations of our size do, but we are acting quickly to remedy them, and have taken steps to ensure they don't happen in the future,' she said.

Explaining the foundation's relationship with the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership, which has been tied to the questionable uranium deal, she said the initiative received funding from a separate organization in Canada.

The partnership received more than $2 million in donations from the Canadian chairman of Uranium One, Ian Telfer, as it was being sold to Russian state atomic agency Rosatom.

Telfer's donations, given by his own foundation, came at the same time as the State Department, then headed by Hillary Clinton, helped approve the sale.

The transaction came through after Bill Clinton helped Frank Giustra secure some of the Kazakh uranium sites also being sold that needed to be vetted by a government committee because it gave one-fifth of US uranium production into foreign hands.

Pally's blog post said that the Giustra partnership does not disclose its donors because under Canadian law they are not disclosed without prior permission from each donor.

'This is hardly an effort on our part to avoid transparency,' she said.

Maura Pally (left) said that money received from a businessman when he was seeking State Department approval for selling his company to Russia (right) could not be disclosed under Canadian law

The apology said that Uranium One Chairman Ian Telfer's donations to a foundation partnership with Frank Giustra (right) would have needed prior permission to be disclosed. Above, Giustra and Bill Clinton

A non-profit rating agency has placed the Clinton Foundation on a watch list. Above, the New York Times's David Leonhardt (left), philanthropist Melinda Gates (center) and Hillary Clinton

Despite the apology, a senior fellow at the non-partisan government watchdog Sunlight Foundation is questioning the foundation's motives.

'It seems like the Clinton Foundation operates as a slush fund for the Clintons,' Sunlight's Bill Allison said, according to the New York Post.

The Clinton Foundation is said to have taken more than $140 million in grants and pledges in 2013, spending $84.6 million on 'functional expenses' including payroll and just $9 million on direct aid.

The foundation, which was also placed on a watch list by the non-profit rating organization Charity Navigator, said that the excess money is in pledges rather than hard assets.

Though the rating organization said it 'takes no position on allegations made or issues raised by third parties' it said on its website that it 'has determined that the nature of this/these issue(s) warrants highlighting the information available so that donors are aware of the issues in question'.

Charity Navigator also refused to rate the foundation, citing insufficient methods to gauge its 'atypical business model'.

Since announcing her run for president, Clinton has sought to dismiss questions about financial support of her family charity and allegations of undue influence as 'distractions and attacks' by Republicans seeking to discredit her.

The philanthropy was started in 2001 by former President Bill Clinton but currently bears the name of the entire former first family - Bill, Hillary and Chelsea.

It's acting CEO, Pally, admitted over the weekend 'yes, we made mistakes, as many organizations of our size do, but we are acting quickly to remedy them, and have taken steps to ensure they don't happen in the future.'

Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea will be starting a nine-day trip to Africa on Wednesday to highlight the group's work on issues such as economic growth and empowerment, climate change and empowering women and girls.

Hillary Clinton last week finished the second leg of her campaign's tour across America. She's expected to resume her travels next month with a visit to South Carolina, one of the first states to cast ballots in next year's presidential primary.

THE 2016 FIELD: WHO'S IN AND WHO'S THINKING IT OVER

More than two dozen people from America's two major political parties are considered potential presidential candidates in the 2016 election.

Eight – including two women, an African-American and two Latinos – have formally entered the race. A long list of others are biding their time and assessing their chances.

REPUBLICANS IN THE RACE

Ben Carson Retired Physician

Age: 63

Religion: Seventh-day Adventist

Base: Evangelicals

Résumé: Famous pediatric neurosurgeon, youngest person to head a major Johns Hopkins Hospital division. Created a charity that awards scholarships to children of good character.

Education: B.A. Yale University. M.D. University of Michigan Medical School.

Family: Married to Candy Carson (1975), with three adult sons. The Carsons live in Maryland with Ben's elderly mother Sonya, who was a seminal influence on his life and development.

Claim to fame: Carson spoke at a National Prayer Breakfast in 2013, railing against political correctness and condemned Obamacare – with President Obama sitting just a few feet away.

Achilles heel: Carson is inflexibly conservative, opposing gay marriage and once saying gay attachments formed in prison provided evidence that sexual orientation is a choice.

Carly Fiorina Former CEO

Age: 60

Religion: Episcopalian

Base: Conservatives

Résumé: Former CEO of Hewett-Packard, former group president of Lucent Technologies, onetime US Senate candidate in California

Education: B.A. Stanford University. UCLA School of Law (did not finish). M.B.A. University of Maryland. M.Sci. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Family: Married to Frank Fiorina (1985), with two adult step-daughters. Divorced from Todd Bartlem (1977-1984).

Claim to fame: Fiorina was the first woman to lead a Fortune 20 company, something that could provide key ammunition against the Democratic Partys' drive to make Hillary Clinton the first female president.

Achilles heel: Fiorina's unceremonious firing by HP's board has led to questions about her management and leadership styles. And her only political experience has been a failed Senate bid in 2010 against Barbara Boxer.

Mike Huckabee Former Arkansas governor

Age: 59

Religion: Southern Baptist

Base: Evangelicals

Résumé: Former governor and lieutenant governor of Arkansas, former Fox News Channel host, ordained minister, author

Education: B.A. Ouachita Baptist University. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (did not finish).

Family: Married to Janet Huckabee (1974), with three adult children. Mrs. Huckabee is a survivor of spinal cancer.

Claim to fame: 'Huck' is a political veteran and has run for president before, winning the Iowa Caucuses in 2008 and finishing second for the GOP nomination behind John McCain. He's known as an affable Christian and built a huge following on his weekend television program.

Achilles heel: Huckabee may have a problem with female voters. He complained in 2014 about Obamacare's contraception coverage, saying Democrats want women to 'believe that they are helpless without Uncle Sugar.' And in 2015 he earned scorn for hawking herbal supplements in infomercials as a diabetes cure.

Ted Cruz Texas senator

Age: 44

Religion: Southern Baptist

Base: Tea partiers

Résumé:US senator, Texas solicitor general, US Supreme Court clerk, associate deputy attorney general under President George W. Bush

Education: B.A. Princeton University. J.D. Harvard Law School.

Family: Married to Heidi Nelson Cruz (2001), with two young daughters. His father is a preacher and he has two half-sisters.

Claim to fame: Cruz spoke on the Senate floor for 21 hours in September 2013 to protest the inclusion of funding for Obamacare in a federal budget bill.

Achilles heel: Cruz's father Rafael, a Texas preacher, is a tea party firebrand who has said gay marriage is a government conspiracy and called President Barack Obama a Marxist who should 'go back to Kenya.'

Rand Paul Kentucky senator

Age: 52

Religion: Presbyterian

Base: Libertarians

Résumé: US senator, board-certified ophthalmologist, congressional campaign manager for his father Ron Paul

Education: Baylor University (did not finish). M.D. Duke University School of Medicine.

Family: Married to Kelley Ashby (1990), with three sons. His father is a former Texas congressman who ran for president three times but never got close to grabbing the brass ring.

Claim to fame: Paul embraces positions that are at odds with most in the GOP, including anti-interventionist foreign policy, criminal drug sentencing reform for African-Americans and limits on government electronic surveillance.

Achilles heel: Paul's politics are aligned with those of his father, whom mainstream GOPers saw as kooky. Both Pauls have advocated for a brand of libertarianism that forces government to stop domestic surveillance programs and limits foreign interventions.

Marco Rubio Florida senator

Age: 43

Religion: Roman Catholic

Base: Conservatives

Résumé: US senator, speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, city commissioner of West Miami

Education: B.A. University of Florida. J.D. University of Miami School of Law.

Family: Married to Jeanette Dousdebes (1998), with two sons and two daughters. Jeanette is a former Miami Dolphins cheerleader who posed for the squad’s first swimsuit calendar.

Claim to fame: Rubio's personal story as the son of Cuban emigres is a powerful narrative, and helped him win his Senate seat in 2010 against a well-funded governor whom he initially trailed by 20 points.

Achilles heel: Rubio was part of a bipartisan 'gang of eight' senators who crafted an Obama-approved immigration reform bill in 2013 which never became law – a move that angered conservative Republicans. And he was criticized in 2011 for publicly telling a version of his parents' flight from Cuba that turned out to appear embellished.

DEMOCRATS IN THE RACE

Hillary Clinton Former sec. of state

Age: 67

Religion: United Methodist

Base: Liberals

Résumé: Secretary of state, US senator, US first lady, Arkansas first lady, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville law faculty

Education: B.A. Wellesley College. J.D. Yale Law School.

Family: Clinton's husband Bill was the 42nd President of the United States. Their daughter Chelsea is marreid to investment banker Marc Mezvinsky, whose mother was a one-term Pennsylvania congresswoman in the 1990s.

Claim to fame: Clinton was the first US first lady with a postgraduate degree and presaged Obamacare with a failed attempt at health care reform in the 1990s.

Achilles heel: A long series of financial and ethical scandals has dogged Clinton, including recent allegations that her husband and their family foundation benefited financially from decisions she made as secretary of state. And her performance surrounding the 2012 terror attack on a State Department facility in Benghazi, Libya, has been catnip for conservative Republicans.

Bernie Sanders* Vermont senator

Age: 73

Religion: Judaism

Base: Far-left progressives

Résumé: US senator, US congressman, mayor of Burlington, Vermont

Education: B.A. University of Chicago.

Family: Sanders is married to Jane O’Meara Sanders (1988), a former president of Burlington College. They have one child and three more from Mrs. Sanders' previous marriage. His brother Larry is a Green Party politician in the UK and formerly served on the Oxfordshire County Council.

Claim to fame: Sanders is an unusually blunt, and unapologetic pol, happily promoting progressivism without hedging. He is also the longest-serving 'independent' member of Congress – neither Democrat nor Republican.

Achilles heel: Sanders describes himself as a 'democratic socialist.' At a time of huge GOP electoral gains, his far-left ideas don't poll well. He favors open borders, single-payer universal health insurance, and greater government control over media ownership.

* Sanders will run as a Democrat but has no party affiliation in the Senate.

REPUBLICANS IN THE HUNT

Jeb Bush, former Florida governor

Bush has a father and a brother who occupied the Oval Office, and the capacity to raise massive amounts of campaign cash. He has alienated conservatives, though, by embracing immigration reform and 'Common Core' education standards.

Chris Christie, New Jersey governor

Pugnacious and unapologetic, Christie would bring an ego-driven brashness to the race – although his abrasive style and echos of his 'Bridgegate' scandal might ultimately sink him.

Lindsey Graham, South Carolina senator

Graham was a non-factor until a March summit in Iowa where he stole the show and put himself on the map. Arizona Sen. John McCain has praised him as the best person to help right America's foreign-relations ship

Bobby Jindal, Louisiana governor

Jindal's main claim to fame is his strident opposition to federal-level 'Common Core' education standards, which included a federal lawsuit that a judge dismissed in late March.

John Kasich, Ohio governor

Kasich is a popular governor in the battleground Buckeye State, but has little name-recognition elsewhere. He has accommodated liberals on some issues and could be seen as a more palatable version of Jeb Bush for Republicans who are anxious about electing a family dynasty.

DEMOCRATS IN THE HUNT

Joe Biden, U.S. vice president

Biden would be a natural candidate as the White House's sitting second-banana, but his reputation as a one-man gaffe factory will keep Democrats from taking him seriously.

Jerry Brown, California governor

Brown has been a presidential candidate three times and earned the nickname 'Moonbeam' for his liberal policy ideas. Today he's seen as a centrist but is likely leaning against another run.

Lincoln Chafee, former Rhode Island gov.

Chafee is a Republican-turned-Democrat who has launched a presidential exploratory committee and has distinguished himself from most in his party by attacking Hillary Clinton.

Martin O'Malley, former Maryland governor

O'Malley is a guitar-playing everyman who had limited success as his state's chief executive, showing political weakness by failing to secure a victory for his hand-picked successor.

George Pataki, former New York governor

Pataki is a long shot with almost zero name-recognition outside his home state, but he pared down the size of the state government and cut taxes during 12 years in office. He toyed with a run in 2012 but ultimately decided against it.

Rick Perry, former Texas governor

Perry was a top-tier candidate in 2012 until his 'Oops!' moment in a debate, when he couldn't remember one of his own policy positions. He now also faces a criminal indictment in Texas over tenuous claims that he abused his power.

Rick Santorum, former Pennsylvania sen.

Santorum is a perennial White House hopeful who won the GOP Iowa Caucuses in 2012 on the strength of ceaseless retail campaigning. He's best known as a religious-right crusader.

Scott Walker, Wisconsin governor

Walker built his national fame on the twin planks of turning his state's budget shortfalls into surpluses and beating back a labor union-led drive to force him out of office. Both results have broad appeal in the GOP.

Donald Trump, real estate tycoon

Trump, the host of 'Celebrity Apprentice,' could self-fund an entire campaign without spending a life-changing portion of his net worth. He has loudly criticized President Obama and claims he can negotiate with foreign governments better than anyone else.

Mark Warner, Virginia senator

Warner is a former Virginia governor who won a tough Senate race in a battleground state. He's also known as a tough budget negotiator.

Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts senator

Warren is a populist liberal who could give Hillary Clinton headaches by challenging her from the left, but she has said she has no plans to run and is happy in the U.S. Senate.

Jim Webb, former Virginia senator

Webb is a centrist Democrat and a Reagan-appointed former Navy Secretary who's hawkish on defense policy. He has launched a presidential exploratory committee.

US Election 2016 Hillary Clinton