Bill Clinton Defends Foundation Receiving Foreign Cash While Hillary Was State Department Chief

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has defended his foundation's decision to accept foreign donations, including those from foreign governments, during the time when his wife, Hillary, was the Secretary of State.

One of the foreign governments mentioned in reports was that of Saudi Arabia which allegedly gave between $10 million and $25 million to the Clinton Foundation.

"I don't think there's anything sinister about getting wealthy people and countries that are seriously involved in development to spend their money wisely in a way that helps poor people," Clinton told NBC News while on a recent tour of Africa for the Clinton Foundation's various projects.

In the exclusive NBC interview, the former president said his charity has never done anything "knowingly inappropriate."

Clinton said there is a "very concerted effort to bring the foundation down."

Facing pressure from critics, the foundation recently announced it will only accept contributions from six Western governments from here on: Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom.

Clinton said the change in the policy is "an acknowledgement that we're going to come as close as we can during her presidential campaign to following the rules we followed when she became secretary of state."

The foundation is being scrutinized now that Hillary is hoping to get the Democratic nomination for president.

The Clinton Foundation recently announced changes in its policies in light of Hillary's intention to run for president.

"The Foundation will increase the frequency of disclosure of its donors from annually to quarterly, publishing new contributors beginning in July 2015, and then each quarter thereafter (i.e., October, January, and April)," the foundation said in a statement.

It also said that after the Clinton Global Initiative International conference this month in the Middle East and Africa, the foundation will not hold any C.G.I. international events "nor will it accept contributions or sponsorships from foreign governments, other than meeting attendance fees."

The U.S. State Department has cleared Hillary on the issue that her actions when she was the head of the department were influenced by the donations to the Clinton Foundation.

"Well, we are not aware of any evidence that actions taken by Secretary Clinton were influenced by donation to the Clinton Foundation or speech honoraria of former President Clinton. So that's our view of that situation," State Department spokesperson Jeff Rathke told a press briefing Monday.

The former president and daughter Chelsea visited Nairobi to witness the hearing aid fitting event by Starkey Hearing Foundation, a member of the Clinton Global Initiative, for 150 individuals.

The Starkey Hearing Foundation has pledged to fit more than one million hearing aids to needy people this decade.