Clinton Library Got Funds From Abroad

Ten percent of the cost of the $165 million Bill Clinton presidential library is said to have come from foreign individuals and governments, sources said. (By Ricky Carioti -- The Washington Post)

Spokesmen for Kuwait and Taiwan confirmed that each government has given the library $1 million. Both governments also donated to other presidential libraries. Kuwait contributed at least $1 million to the library of former president George H.W. Bush, and Taiwan gave $2 million to the Ronald Reagan library.

Calls to the other governments were not returned, and the Middle Eastern individuals could not be located for comment.

Jack Kuei, a press officer for Taiwan in Washington, said his government's donation "is a way to promote a mutual understanding and it's a kind of public diplomacy." Kuwaiti counselor Jasem Albudaiwi called his nation's contribution "a friendly donation from the people and the government of Kuwait to the cause of the library."

The Reagan library does not disclose its donors, a spokeswoman said. The Bush and Jimmy Carter libraries have made a very broad disclosure. Except for a few donors who asked to remain anonymous, the Bush contributors have been named publicly, and the names of the largest among them are either chiseled into a wall or onto the bricks of a walkway at the library in Texas. The Carter library also has a wall of founders.

Bush's large foreign donors include Kuwait, Japan, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. The family of Bandar bin Sultan, former Saudi ambassador to the United States, contributed $1 million or more. Carter's donors include the late King Fahd of Saudi Arabia.

Clinton has been criticized for asking for donations, including from Saudi Arabia, at questionable moments. In an op-ed column in the Wall Street Journal last year, former FBI director Louis J. Freeh said Clinton "hit up [Saudi Arabia's head of state] Prince Abdullah for a contribution to his library" during a meeting in which Freeh wanted Clinton to ask about the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing. Clinton has publicly disputed Freeh's account.

Clinton has also been challenged by members of Congress for accepting a reported $450,000 donation to his library from the former wife of fugitive financier Marc Rich before he granted Rich a pardon for tax evasion in 2001. Neither Clinton nor the Rich family confirmed the donation.

The Clinton Foundation was formed in 1997 soon after Clinton chose its 30-acre site near downtown Little Rock. The foundation not only helps to run the library, but it also oversees and finances Clinton's many policy initiatives.

The library is an imposing glass and metal structure overlooking the Arkansas River. Also on its landscaped grounds is the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service.

The Clinton library has also received large donations from Americans and American entities. The Roy and Christine Sturgis Charitable Trust has pledged $4 million, a person familiar with the gift said. The Wasserman Foundation of Los Angeles has given between $6 million and $7 million. Casey Wasserman, the foundation's president, has long been close to Bill Clinton.