Clinton Foundation Won’t Give Back Weinstein’s $250,000 Donation

After days of avoiding the topic, the Clinton Foundation told the Daily Mail Sunday that it would not return the up to $250,000 in donations that disgraced former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein contributed over the years, because the foundation had already spent the money.

Many other Democrats and liberal organizations turned away from Weinstein after more than a dozen women accused the co-founder of The Weinstein Company and Miramax Films of sexually harassing, assaulting, or raping them in a series of bombshell reports this month. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced it would be donating all of Weinstein’s contributions to charities, but the Clinton Foundation chose not to follow suit.

[lz_ndn video=”33120036″]

The foundation’s spokesman, Craig Minassian, offered a precursor of the foundation’s decision when he tweeted Saturday, “Suggesting @ClintonFdn return funds from our 330,000+ donors ignores the fact that donations have been used to help people across the world.”

[lz_third_party includes=”https://twitter.com/MinassianMedia/status/919340734301470720″]

Weinstein’s contributions to the Clinton Foundation totaled between $100,000 and $250,000, and the last contribution came in 2014, the spokesperson told the Daily Mail.

The foundation said that the Weinstein cash had gone toward charities supporting women’s rights and HIV medication.

[lz_related_box id=”852365″]

The foundation chose not to follow 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s footsteps when she told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria Wednesday that she “of course” would donate the more than $17,000 he contributed toward her 2016 and 2008 presidential campaigns to charities.

“I give 10 percent of my income to charity every year,” Clinton told Zakaria. “This will be part of that. There’s no doubt about it.”

The Clinton Foundation is run by Hillary Clinton, former President Bill Clinton and their daughter, Chelsea. It is following in the footsteps of the Democratic National Committee, which is holding onto $270,000 of Weinstein’s contributions.