DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And that is some news on the Democratic side. Donna Shalala, the president of the Clinton Foundation, told NPR yesterday that if Hillary Clinton is elected in November, the foundation will spin off its international operations and dramatically reduce its budget. This means the foundation, which Bill Clinton built into a wide-ranging charity with a global presence, could become much smaller. NPR's Peter Overby has the report.
PETER OVERBY, BYLINE: There's no escaping the politics in this. Here's Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump last night in Austin, Texas.
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DONALD TRUMP: This is corruption, and this is why I have called for a special prosecutor to look into this mess.
OVERBY: The Clinton Foundation has been under heavy attack since Clinton announced she was running more than a year ago. These changes at the foundation would eliminate some of the biggest targets, not that Donna Shalala, the foundation's president, put it that way.
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DONNA SHALALA: We have lots of partners around the world, and they will continue the work that was started by the Clinton Foundation.
OVERBY: She told NPR the foundation has been planning this for months - the transfer of its international programs to other existing non-governmental organizations or to newly created ones if Hillary Clinton is elected.
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SHALALA: This kind of unraveling has to be done with a scalpel so that we just do not hurt people and do not interrupt the very good work that's being done.
OVERBY: The Clinton Foundation has an annual budget of $250 million. It's unique in the reach of its programs and the number of partners - other nonprofits and philanthropists - it engages. Much of its money comes from international donors, philanthropists, public officials, even nations. Those international connections also generate much of the controversy surrounding the foundation.
If Hillary Clinton is elected, the foundation then will stop accepting contributions from foreign donors and from American corporations. What's left after the downsizing would be the Clinton Presidential Library and Center in Little Rock and a few other domestic programs. One example - the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, which the Clinton Foundation helps underwrite. The changes also means a dramatically shrinking role for Bill Clinton, who launched the foundation 20 years ago.
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SHALALA: Everything that we're spinning off or merging with another organization, he will not be involved.
OVERBY: Again, Donna Shalala.
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SHALALA: He's coming off the board of the foundation, but he's also coming off any relationship with any of these spin-offs or these new partner organizations.
OVERBY: Bill Clinton would stop fundraising, too - again, if his wife becomes president. That would leave their daughter, Chelsea, as the only Clinton on the Clinton Foundation board. Peter Overby, NPR News, Washington. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
