Hillary Clinton donates $200K university speaking fees to her own foundation

Hillary Clinton, who has come under fire for her approximately $200,000 per speech speaking fees, now says that all the proceeds go to a Clinton owned non-profit organization.

Clinton told ABC News’ Ann Compton that her profits from speaking at multiple universities for the past year-and-a-half have all been donated to her family’s foundation, the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.

The foundation works on projects such as building a Marriott hotel in Haiti and training “marginalized youth in quality hospitality jobs” in Columbia. The organization says that its goal is to create “partnerships between businesses, NGOs, governments, and individuals everywhere to work faster, better, and leaner; to find solutions that last; and to transform lives and communities from what they are today to what they can be, tomorrow.”

Clinton’s speaking fees came under scrutiny after an outcry at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, (UNLV) where student leaders asked Clinton to return the fee for her scheduled October visit. UNLV is hiking its four-year tuition by 17%.

“The students are outraged about this,” Elias Benjelloun, UNLV’s student body president, told the Washington Post.

“When you see reckless spending, it just belittles the sacrifices students are consistently asked to make. I’m not an accountant or economist, so I can’t put a price tag on how much we should be paying her, but I think she should come for free,” Benjelloun said.

Neither Clinton nor her spokesman, Nick Merrill, have commented on the student’s request.

In the interview, Clinton did respond to the situation in general terms, claiming that “[i]t’s been my experience that they’re not worried about my speaking or my household, they’re worried about their own.”

Even though her speaking fee is six-figures, Clinton told Compton that by traveling around the country and speaking, she is working to further the debate on income inequality.

Via ABC News.

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