Bill Clinton defends foundation's former foreign contributions

WASHINGTON, May 4 (UPI) -- Former President Bill Clinton has defended the Clinton Foundation's reception of contributions from foreign donors.

"There is no doubt in my mind that we have never done anything knowingly inappropriate in terms of taking money to influence any kind of American government policy," Clinton told NBC News. "That just hasn't happened."

Clinton is commenting on criticism that donors attempted to influence U.S. foreign policy during Hillary Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State. Saudi Arabia reportedly gave between $10 million to $25 million to the foundation.

The foundation recently announced it would only accept contributions from six Western governments from now on, but the former president said that's not admitting that the previous actions by the foundation were wrong.

"Absolutely not," Clinton said. "It's 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."

Clinton said that his family's foundation abides by the rules that apply to everyone else, but his family is held to a higher standard.

"All I'm saying is the idea that there's one set of rules for us and another set for everybody else is true," he said.

"The people who have attacked the foundation have practiced selective nondisclosure," he added. "I really trust the American people to figure it out. I always have. And so far, I haven't been disappointed."

Clinton said he may step down if his wife is elected as President of the United States.

"I might if I were asked to do something in the public interest that I had an obligation to do. Or I might take less of an executive role," he said. "But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Frank Giustra, a Canadian mogul and founder of Lionsgate Entertainment who gave more than $100 million to the Clinton Foundation, was questioned over his intentions and relationship with the Clinton family.

"I have one very specific reason I have a relationship with Bill Clinton: I admire what he does, and I want to be part of it," Giustra said. "But I've never asked him for a damn thing."

Clinton said he was "proud" of the foundation.

"There has never been anything like the Clinton Global Initiative where you've raised over $100 billion worth of stuff that helped 43 million people in 180 countries," he said.