Sources at the Clinton Initiative report pressure applied to employees to help cover up the syphoning of $5 million from the endowment for the political campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY).

Sources at a not-for-profit organization overseen by former president Bill Clinton, confided that they were pressured by people close to Bill and Hillary Clinton, New York Senator and presidential candidate, to keep silent about a diversion of $5 million from the organization's endowment.

Some time after Super Tuesday (late February), they say $5 million was diverted from the endowment, a charitable fund created for the purpose of contributing to the organization's mission of fighting AIDS and poverty around the world. Shortly after this diversion of funds, Sen. Clinton announced that she would be infusing $5 million into her presidential campaign.

Immediately questions began to surface about the source of the campaign funds. Major media outlets demanded to see the Senator's tax records (which are jointly filed with her husband's). The resulting questions about the source of the $5 million, according to sources, caused the Clintons considerable alarm.

Several times after the diversion of money from the endowment, and its subsequent appearance in Clinton's campaign war-chest, sources at the Initiative were pressured by several individuals close to the Clintons, including individuals who work "high up" on the Clinton campaign staff, to refuse to answer an inquiries from media regarding the Initiative or its finances.

Since the diversion of funds from a charitable endowment to a political campaign would be considered highly unethical, according to the sources, the matter was dealt with at the highest levels at the not-for-profit organization, although they would not confirm whether any current or past members of the organization's board were aware of the diversion of funds. (The published by-laws of the not-for-profit corporation make it clear that such an action could not have been taken without prior approval from the board.)

Recently the Clintons disclosed tax records for previous years but did not include records for 2007. It is doubtful whether the source of the $5 million could have been hidden from the Internal Revenue Service, as a transfer of that size would account for income and would potentially by taxable even though its source was a not-for-profit.

J. Stovers

e-mail:: wduane@hotmail.com

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