Facing criticism for some of the donations given to his family's philanthropy, Bill Clinton said Thursday that the Clinton Foundation would no longer accept foreign or corporate funds and that he would resign from the board should Hillary Clinton win the presidency.
Clinton's announcement, which he relayed to foundation employees in a meeting Thursday, followed the recent release of State Department emails mentioning several donors to the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation who had contacts with aides to Clinton while she was secretary of state.
The donations had become a lighting rod in Hillary Clinton's campaign against Donald Trump, who has repeatedly implied that foreign donors had corrupted his opponent's tenure as secretary of state. On Tuesday, the Trump campaign pointed to an editorial in The Boston Globe titled "Clinton Foundation Should Stop Accepting Funds."
The moves come amid concern among some Clinton allies that additional details could emerge about relationships between Clinton's State Department and foundation donors.
Trump has talked of a 2009 series of emails that showed Douglas J. Band, a chief adviser to Bill Clinton, seeking to arrange a meeting between a senior U.S. government official and Gilbert Chagoury, a Lebanese-Nigerian developer and foundation donor.
"As you know, he's key guy there and to us and is loved in Lebanon," Band wrote in a message obtained by Judicial Watch, a conservative advocacy group, through public records lawsuits.
Trump said the exchange proved a "pay-to-play" relationship between donors and Hillary Clinton's State Department. The Clinton campaign said its rivals had mischaracterized the exchange and that Clinton never took action because of donations to the foundation.
But the email releases, and the potential for real or perceived conflicts of interest, have forced the Clintons to protect against further damage to her low levels of trust among voters.
The former president also said Thursday that whether Hillary Clinton wins or loses, the Clinton Foundation would end the Clinton Global Initiative, an annual gathering of global leaders, philanthropists, donors and celebrities to discuss topics of international concern. It will hold its final gathering in September.
Foreign nationals and countries are prohibited from donating directly to U.S. political campaigns, but have given hundreds of millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation, which works globally to combat AIDS/HIV, malaria, childhood obesity and climate change, and promotes women's rights and other causes.
Last year, under pressure for its dealings with donors outside the United States, the Clinton Foundation said it would curb new contributions from foreign governments, but it did not discontinue fundraising from foreign individuals, corporations or charities.
Bill Clinton's decisions were first reported Thursday by The Associated Press and were confirmed by Craig Minassian, a foundation spokesman. The charity will rely only on contributions from U.S. citizens and charities should Hillary Clinton become president, Bill Clinton explained.
But the new provision will not necessarily ease concerns about how the foundation and its supporters would be dealt with by a Hillary Clinton administration.
An ABC News report in June about the appointment of Rajiv K. Fernando, a Chicago-based securities trader and major foundation donor, to a sensitive State Department intelligence board in 2011 prompted a backlash by Hillary Clinton's political rivals. "How the Clinton Foundation Put National Security Up for Sale," read the subject of a Republican National Committee news release.
Clinton has improved her trust ratings recently, but 59 percent of Americans still say she is not honest and trustworthy, compared with 62 percent who say the same about Trump, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll this month.
In recent years, the Clintons' daughter, Chelsea, has taken on a leadership role at the foundation. Bill Clinton had initially hoped to continue doing the same, even if he were back in the White House.
"I hope I'll get permission to keep this foundation going," he told Queen Latifah on her talk show last year, amid a packed schedule of foundation-related events, including an overseas trip with donors.