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Bill Clinton's a lucky bloke, he might avoid a fraud conviction in Australia. Maybe.

The truth about the Clinton Foundation's history

Here's the official history of the Clinton Foundation - this screen grab was taken today and I thought we'd have a look at the first few claims in the sanitised version published by the Clintons.

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The sanitised Bill Clinton version of events starts above in 2001 - the real history of the entity starts 4 years before that in 1997.

The William J Clinton Presidential Foundation was incorporated in October 1997.

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It was established as a non-profit charitable corporation for the following specific purpose.

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Bill Clinton had nothing to do with it.  Here are the 3 initial directors/trustees.

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The US IRS provisions for charitable corporations are quite strict on the probity and ethics of directors and managers, as described in this provision

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Here is the United States legislation regarding Presidential Libraries.

National Archives and Records Administration

(44 U.S.C. Chapter 21)

§ 2101. Definitions§ 2106. Reports to Congress

§ 2107. Acceptance of records for historical preservation

Note. President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act

 

Note. Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act

§ 2112. Presidential archival depository

Note. Capital Improvement Plan for Presidential Archival Depositories; Report

These are the clearly legislated provisions that were used to create the charitable entity "William J Clinton Presidential Foundation".

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The William J Clinton Presidential Foundation was granted tax exempt status by the IRS for the strict purposes associated with raising money for the library and library works.

https://www.clintonfoundation.org/sites/default/files/clinton_foundation_irs_determination_letters_1998_and_2002.pdf

Bill Clinton could not be associated with the Foundation because of his poor character.

 

On 18 January 2001 Bill Clinton was forced to release his Arkansas law licence and later that year his US Supreme Court license under a deal to avoid formal disbarment and further penalties at law for offences of dishonesty:

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In the matter of  Clinton v. Jones 

On April 12, 1999, Judge Wright found Clinton in contempt of court for “intentionally false” testimony in Jones v. Clinton, fined him $90,000, and referred the case to the Arkansas Supreme Court’s Committee on Professional Conduct, as Clinton still possessed a law license in Arkansas.

The Arkansas Supreme Court suspended Clinton’s Arkansas law license in April 2000. On January 19, 2001, Clinton agreed to a five-year suspension and a $25,000 fine in order to avoid disbarment and to end the investigation of Independent Counsel Robert Ray (Starr’s successor). On October 1, 2001, Clinton’s U.S. Supreme Court law license was suspended, with 40 days to contest his disbarment. On November 9, 2001, the last day for Clinton to contest the disbarment, he opted to resign from the Supreme Court Bar, surrendering his license, rather than facing penalties related to disbarment.

To summarise - the Clinton Foundation was established to build a library named after President Clinton.  He had no role in the organisation - but it was a very handy tax exempt incorporated entity to have a relationship with if your name happened to be Bill Clinton.

Next the HIV AIDS incorporated entities.

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