President Obama will be in New York next month when the Clinton Global Initiative meets for its 12th and final annual session — but he won’t be there for the sendoff.
The president is claiming scheduling problems.
“The president has spoken at their gathering several times and has expressed how much he values the work being done by the foundation around the world,” a White House official told Politico.
Obama’s decision comes as CGI and the related Clinton Foundation are getting battered by conflict-of-interest questions.
Just Monday, a trove of emails from Hillary Clinton’s top aide, Huma Abedin, showed favors for high-dollar contributors to the Clinton Foundation were requested repeatedly.
In another email chain, Clinton aides Abedin and Capricia Marshall fielded requests from Joyce Aboussie, who was working with lobbyists to help Peabody Energy with partnerships abroad. “It should go without saying that the Peabody folks came to Dick [Gephardt] and I because of our relationship with the Clintons,” Aboussie said in an email to Abedin. Aboussie gave between $100,000 and $250,000 to the Clinton Foundation.
Obama skipping CGI this year — even though he’ll be in town for the UN General Assembly — provides a convenient excuse to keep his distance from the scandal-plagued foundation.
Source: Nypost.com