COSTELLO: Bill Clinton defending his wife as questions continue to swirl around their foundation and whether donors were given special treatment while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state.</s>COSTELLO (voice-over): Clinton dismissed the criticism during an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper who is making his debut this Sunday as host of on CNN's "</s>STATE OF THE UNION." JAKE TAPPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think a lot of people might say, okay, you say there's no evidence that anything was done for them, but can you really say that these companies, these wealthy individuals, these governments, none of them sought anything? I mean, some of them did have business before the State Department.</s>BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I don't know. You never know what people's motives are, but in this case I'm pretty sure everybody that gave to Haiti in the aftermath of the earthquake saw what they saw on television, were horrified and wanted to make a difference. And...</s>TAPPER: You're not saying -- you say you don't know if anybody sought any favor, just that there was no...</s>CLINTON: No, and I don't think Hillary would know either. She, you know, she was pretty busy those years, and I don't -- I never saw her study a list of my contributors or, and I had no idea who was doing business before the State Department. But what I will say this, she believed that part of the job of the secretary of state was to advance America's economic interests around the world. If she hadn't been doing this economic diplomacy work, nobody would have been doing it, and -- but I never thought about whether there was any overlap.</s>COSTELLO: Mr. Clinton noted that none of this was an issue until the political season began, adding that some of the companies in question have supported the Clinton Foundation for years, even before Hillary Clinton was named secretary of state. You can see more of Jake Tapper's interview with Bill Clinton this Sunday on "STATE OF THE UNION" beginning at 9:00 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN. The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM after a break.
Bill Clinton Defends His Wife as Questions Continue over Foundation. Aired 9:30- 10:00a ET