Former President Bill Clinton used taxpayers’ money to subsidize the Clinton Foundation as well as supplement the pay and benefits of several aides who worked at the foundation, Politico reported on Sept. 1.
The outlet obtained records from the General Services Administration (GSA) detailing the spending through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
Money from taxpayers were also used to buy IT equipment, including servers, which were used at the Clinton Foundation, according to Politico.
“The thousands of pages of newly uncovered records reveal sometimes granular detail about how Bill Clinton’s representatives directed the spending of taxpayers’ cash allocated by the GSA under the Former President’s Act,” the report said.
The act, passed in 1958, allows the GSA to fund pensions, correspondence, support staff and travel of former presidents.
Bill Clinton was given more money than any other former commander-in-chief. Between 2001 and the end of this year, Clinton’s representatives had requested allocations under the Act totaling $16 million, the report said.
GSA documents and the foundation’s tax returns show that at least 13 of the 22 staffers paid by the GSA to work in Bill Clinton’s office also worked at the charity.
An aide to the former president told Politico that Clinton’s use of the GSA program is entirely consistent with the past use of the Former Presidents Act.
“There is no legal prohibition that would preclude the former president’s staff from receiving compensation from other sources or doing personal work for the former president. We are unaware of any legal prohibition that would preclude these activities,” the aide said.
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