AP
The Clinton Foundation is closing down its New York City-based Clinton Global Initiative office amid drops in foreign donations following Hillary Clinton’s election night loss.
The foundation filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice with the New York Department of Labor on Thursday announcing it would lay off 22 employees as part of a “discontinuation of the Clinton Global Initiative,” the New York Observer reported.
The WARN Act requires employers to notify workers 60 days “in advance of covered plant closings and covered mass layoffs.”
Critics levied conflict of interest charges against the Clinton Global Initiative given its acceptance of donations from foreign governments during the 2016 election. The accusations heightened after Clinton's loss when a number of foreign entities said they would withdraw financing.
State Department memos leaked over the span of the campaign detailed multiple instances of Clinton providing special access to donors during her time serving as secretary of state.
Former president Bill Clinton announced in August that the initiative would discontinue its annual gathering in New York of international leaders. One month later, the foundation announced a series of layoffs in another step to scale back the organization amid pay-to-play accusations.
The Clinton Global Initiative was launched in 2005 as an international networking platform that works to implement policies overseas.
