On Wednesday, in a wide-ranging speech criticizing Hillary Clinton’s record and fitness of office, Donald Trump renewed questions about the Clintons, their eponymous foundation and their financial relationships with China. In 2011, while Hillary Clinton was serving as Secretary of State, Bill Clinton received $750,000 for two speeches, paid for by a Chinese business group and an entity controlled by the Chinese government.
Those two paid speeches merely scratch the surface of the Clintons’ “China Syndrome.”
According to Clinton Foundation 990s reviewed by Breitbart News, the Clinton’s set up a separate entity, the “Clinton Foundation Hong Kong” in 2014. The filing doesn’t detail any specific activity by the new foundation, noting simply that its mission is to undertake programs of the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton (BHCC) Foundation. Although it is a separate and distinct foundation, it is controlled by the BHCC Foundation, according to the 990 filings.
The Clintons have established three other separate, foreign foundations as part of their BHCC Foundation. It has created the William J. Clinton Foundation Charitable Trust in Kenya, Africa, to work on foundation programs, in addition to two foreign foundations whose primary activity is “fundraising.” The William J. Clinton Foundation UK is domiciled in London, while the Clinton Foundation Insalingsstiftelse is domiciled in Stockholm, Sweden.
All of these foreign foundations, while legally separate, are controlled by the BHCC Foundation. The existence of each ought to raise many questions, given Hillary Clinton’s service as Secretary of State. Given the long, shared history of the United States and Great Britain, a separate Clinton Foundation tasked with fundraising in the UK is at least superficially plausible. A separate fundraising arm in Sweden seems more curious, though.
With the exception of a Swedish attorney, no Swedes serve on the board of the Clinton Foundation’s Swedish subsidiary.
In any event, the existence of five separate foreign foundations raises troubling questions about the extent of the Clinton’s work with foreign interests.
The recent creation of the Clintons’ Chinese foundation ought to raise many eyebrows on its own, though. The Clinton Foundation’s work in China has been sporadic over the years. For at least a decade, the Clinton Foundation has maintained bank accounts and/or foundation offices in the communist country, according to its 990 filings.
From 2007 to 2008, the Clinton Foundation planned and organized its first Clinton Global Initiative Conference in Hong Kong. The planning for this conference coincided with Hillary Clinton’s first run for the White House. During the conference, which occurred in December 2008, after the Presidential election, several Chinese companies and entities announced large financial pledges to underwrite the work of the Clinton Global Initiative.
The Clinton Foundation, though, doesn’t seem to have undertaken significant activities in China following this conference, according to its 990 disclosures. The Foundation maintained bank accounts in the country and, of course, Bill Clinton was paid three quarters of a million dollars by Chinese interests for two speeches in 2011.
The next significant activity was the creation of the Chinese foundation sometime in 2014, just months before Hillary Clinton launched another bid for the White House. Any detail about the activities of the Clintons’ Chinese foundation won’t be available until later this year.
A complete account won’t be known until after the November election.
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