A State Department spokesman said in a press briefing Monday that the department hasn't seen evidence that Hillary Clinton's decisions as secretary of state were influenced by foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation or to her husband.
"We are not aware of any evidence that actions taken by Secretary Clinton were influenced by donations to the Clinton Foundation or speech or honoraria of former President Clinton," spokesman Jeff Rathke told reporters, according to ABC News.
"Over the course of Secretary Clinton's tenure, the State Department received requests to review dozens of entities each year, primarily for proposed speeches [by former President Bill Clinton]," and "we are aware of no evidence that there was undue influence."
The comments came on the eve of the official release of the book "Clinton Cash," which sparked the most recent investigation into Clinton's actions during her tenure at the State Department. Author Peter Schweizer alleges that Clinton used her position as the nation's top diplomat to provide favors to foreign governments and individuals in exchange for large donations to her family's foundation as well as to her husband via speaking fees.
When asked what kind of investigation was conducted by the State Department, Rathke said he didn't have "a systematic or an organizational effort to outline for you" but would seek further details.
"We've looked at the reports that have been out there publicly, and we don't have any evidence, any internal evidence, to suggest that there was that kind of influence," he said.
Upon beginning her tenure as secretary of state during President Obama's first term, Clinton signed a memorandum of understanding, in which the Clinton Foundation agreed to annually publish the names of new contributors and to "submit information to the State Department about foreign government donations."
Clinton also signed a letter committing "not to participate personally and substantially in matters where the Clinton Foundation or the Clinton Global Initiative were specific parties," according to Rathke.
But that agreement wasn't upheld. Rathke acknowledged that the department was aware of media reports that the Clinton Foundation "did not meet some of the obligations to publish annually the names of new contributors."
He refused, however, to say whether there would be consequences for Clinton's failure to comply to the established memorandum of understanding, which was set up to avoid potential conflicts of interests.
"So the Department is not going to go back to the foundation and say, 'Hey, you didn't comply with this; why not?'" a reporter asked.
Rathke never clearly answered the question but said that since the Clinton Foundation has recently agreed to disclose donors, "We'll let them do that."
Michael Short, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, told ABC, "If there wasn't something to hide, Hillary Clinton wouldn't have deleted tens of thousands of emails from her secret email server and the State Department wouldn't be dragging its feet on virtually every public records request that comes their way."
Bill Clinton told NBC on Monday morning that 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."
As for his speaking fees, which are said to exceed $10 million annually, Clinton said, "I gotta pay our bills. And I also give a lot of it to the foundation every year."
