Clinton Foundation to Keep Harvey Weinstein’s $250,000 Donation

By Bowen Xiao
October 16, 2017 Last Updated: October 16, 2017
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and producer Harvey Weinstein attend the TIME 100 Gala, TIME'S 100 Most Influential People In The World, cocktail party at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 24, 2012 in New York City. (Larry Busacca/Getty Images for TIME)

Recently disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein had in the past donated up to $250,000 to the Clinton Foundation—and the foundation is going to keep it, even after the accusations of sexual harassment and rape.

The foundation said on Sunday, Oct. 15 that the donations, ranging between $100,000 to $250,000 have already been spent on their projects, according to The Daily Mail.

The decision to keep the money was no surprise, after tweets from the foundation’s spokesman Craig Minassian, seemed to confirm it.

“Suggesting @ClintonFdn return funds from our 330,000+ donors ignores the fact that donations have been used to help people across the world,” Minassian wrote in an Oct. 14 Tweet.

Weinstein, co-founder of Miramax and recently fired by its board after allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced, is a major Democratic donor. Calls for the foundation to return Weinstein’s money started to emerge after some 30 women came forward and accused the Hollywood producer of sexual assault and rape. The scandal has put many Hollywood stars and politicians under an awkward spotlight.

Already dozens of Democratic Party politicians, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) have pledged to donate all of their contributions received from Weinstein to women’s rights charities, Fox News reported.

Hillary Clinton made a similar, albeit five-day late, statement on the scandal, saying she was “shocked and appalled” by the revelations on Weinstein.

Weinstein had hosted fundraisers for Clinton in the past and donated more than $46,000 to her recent presidential campaign and other election efforts, Fox News reported.

Clinton later told CNN that she would donate donate the money to charity.

“What other people are saying, what my former colleagues are saying, is they’re going to donate it to charity, and of course I will do that,” she told CNN.

Senator Hillary Clinton and Miramax boss Harvey Weinstein arrive at the Brooklyn Museum for the premiere of Miramax Films “Finding Neverland” in New York City on Oct. 25, 2004. (Evan Agostini/Getty Images)

Weinstein was recently expelled from the Motion Picture Academy after the Academy’s board of governors met on Saturday to discuss the allegations against Weinstein. The board voted in excess of the two-thirds majority needed to expel him.

“We do so not simply to separate ourselves from someone who does not merit the respect of his colleagues but also to send a message that the era of willful ignorance and shameful complicity in sexually predatory behavior and workplace harassment in our industry is over,” the board wrote in the official statement. “What’s at issue here is a deeply troubling problem that has no place in our society.”

The board also said that it is working to establish ethical standards of conduct that all members would be expected to exemplify.

The board’s decision arrived on the same day that Weinstein’s brother, Bob Weinstein, broke his silence and criticized his brother as a predator. Bob Weinstein said that he intended to write a letter to the board, but it is unclear if the letter had reached the members before their decision was made.

Weinstein has settled at least eight lawsuits with victims who alleged sexual abuse over the years, according to the New York Times, which itself was accused of burying a 2004 expose on Weinstein after the mogul used his influence with the paper to kill the story. Three women alleged that Weinstein raped them in a subsequent article in The New Yorker.

From NTD.tv