Chevy Chase was on the plane with Bill Clinton. So was a former president of Brazil. The founders of Google. A former president of Mexico. And John Cusack.
They were all going to Davos, the Swiss resort that holds an annual conclave of the wealthy and powerful. The jet — arranged by a Saudi businessman — provided a luxurious living-room setting for a rolling discussion: Couldn’t the big names at Davos be doing more to solve the world’s big problems?
In the background, a Clinton staff member named Doug Band had an idea that would change the ex-president’s life.
“Only Bill Clinton could bring a group like this together,” Band thought.
Bill Clinton didn’t need Davos. He could do this himself.
—David A. Fahrenthold, Tom Hamburger and Rosalind S. Helderman writing for the Washington Post about the evolution of the Clinton Foundation, which has transformed from a humble nonprofit centered on the ex-president’s library to a $2 billion global empire over the past decade.
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