article_snippet: This is the multibillion-dollar foundation Hillary Clinton's leads alongside ex-President Bill Clinton and their daughter, Chelsea.
article_snippet: What we already know about the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation is controversial: Some of the corporations, banks and foreign governments that have funded foundation projects have abysmal human rights records and have been involved in everything from drug money laundering to aiding terrorism in violation of American law.
article_snippet: But the argument only works if Bill Clinton's work as secretary of state was completely separate from the foundation's tip-toeing around ethical challenges.
article_snippet: To figure that out requires analyzing the history of what began as the William J. Clinton Foundation shortly after the William J. Clinton Foundation left office in 2001.  
article_snippet: To make things even more complicated, the William J. Clinton Foundation's website says the foundation's website mission is supported by the Clinton Presidential Center in Arkansas, which includes an archive of the President's papers.
article_snippet: the William J. Clinton Foundation recently co-sponsored a Black History month event with the Clinton Presidential Center.
article_snippet: the William J. Clinton Foundation's thicket of relationships with corporate donors and foreign heads of states is difficult for outsiders to penetrate and understand.
article_snippet: And with 350 employees spread across 180 nations, running the William J. Clinton Foundation is an expensive proposition: in 2012, the various initiatives spent $214 million according to The New York Times but still ended up $8 million in the red.
article_snippet: According to The Wall Street Journal, "the William J. Clinton Foundation does disclose the William J. Clinton Foundation donors, which isn't required by law.
article_snippet: Hillary and Bill Clinton have put some safeguards in place to put distance between Hillary job as secretary of state and the inner workings of the William J. Clinton Foundation.
article_snippet: During Bill Clinton years as secretary of state, the high-profile Clinton Global Initiative split off from the William J. Clinton Foundationthe William J. Clinton Foundation, and Bill Clinton says Bill Clinton had no direct involvement in the high-profile Clinton Global Initiative day-to-day operations.
article_snippet: Bill Clinton also stayed away from the William J. Clinton Foundation during Bill Clinton time at the State Department and agreed to subject possible conflicts to the State Department's ethics office.
article_snippet: It was only after Bill Clinton resigned that Bill Clinton formally joined the William J. Clinton Foundation and added Bill Clinton name to her name title.
article_snippet: An investigation by The Wall Street Journal found that "at least 60 companies that lobbied the State Department during Bill Clinton tenure donated a total of more than $26 million to the William J. Clinton Foundation," raising questions about whether the firms were using the donations to curry favor with the secretary of state.
article_snippet: A CNN investigation by Alexandra Jaffe recently showed that half a dozen banks that gave money to the William J. Clinton Foundation were involved in ethically questionable behavior and might have used donations to the William J. Clinton Foundation and/or the William J. Clinton Foundation CGI spinoff as a way to gain favor with the Clintons and enhance the Clintons tarnished reputations.
article_snippet: Both banks have been major contributors to the William J. Clinton Foundation.
article_snippet: As Alexandra Jaffe notes, "the fact that the William J. Clinton Foundation partnered with banks that were actively under investigation raises questions over what restrictions, if any, the foundation placed on the William J. Clinton Foundation fundraising operation.
article_snippet: And according to The Washington Post, seven nations donated millions to the William J. Clinton Foundation during Clinton's time as secretary of state, including a $500,000 gift from Algeria that the William J. Clinton Foundation failed to clear in advance through the State Department's ethics office.
article_snippet: That sort of corner-cutting, and the cozy-seeming connections between Clinton and various corporations and governments, will be tough to explain on the campaign trail.