Republicans assail Clinton Foundation’s tax exemption

Dozens of House Republicans are urging the IRS to investigate the tax-exempt status of the Clinton Foundation, weeks after the foundation acknowledged that it didn’t report millions of dollars in grants from foreign governments. 

The 52 GOP lawmakers, in a letter organized by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), said the reporting foul-ups and other questions about the Clinton Foundation’s fundraising and operating practices deserve more scrutiny from the IRS.

{mosads}The foundation, a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) is the primary charitable arm for former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the heavy favorite to win the Democratic nomination for president in 2016. 501(c)(3) organizations are among the most common tax-exempt groups, and are barred from aiding political campaigns.

“Proceeding under the cloak of philanthropy, the foundation appears to have facilitated major private business transactions between foreign entities and also failed to report substantial foreign donations during Secretary Clinton’s tenure at the State Department,” the GOP lawmakers wrote to the IRS commissioner, John Koskinen, on Tuesday.

“These actions have created an appearance of impropriety and go behind the foundation’s pledge to act primarily in the furtherance of charitable causes for which it was granted tax-exempt status.”

The Clinton Foundation has said it will likely amend its tax returns from 2010 through 2012 – all years that Hillary Clinton was secretary of state – to account for the millions of dollars in donations from foreign governments.

Foundation officials and Bill Clinton have said they made an honest mistake in not reporting the donations.

The Republican letter also questions the Clinton’s ties to Frank Giustra, a Canadian businessman and frequent donor to the foundation. News reports have noted that some of Giustra’s biggest business successes have come in countries that he has traveled to with Bill Clinton.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign have called reports about the Clintons’ relationship with Giustra overblown, in addition to other questions about the foundation raised by the author Peter Schweizer.