A DEM’S STRUGGLE TO SUPPORT HIL

EVEN IF BILL and Hillary Clinton did nothing illegal while running their charity, the apparent conflicts of interest raise serious questions about the Democratic nominee’s ethics, an expert told the News.

“Most jurisdictions require disclosure not only of the business relationships of public servants, but of their spouses too,” David Birdsell, dean of the Public Affairs School at Baruch College, said Thursday.

“Because, the assumption, is, of course, that if one family member benefits, the public servant benefits at least indirectly, and may give undue consideration to the source of a spouse’s income, which is especially troubling if the business in question is regulated,” he said.

Laureate International Universities — a for-profit education company — paid her husband $17.6 million from 2010 to 2015 to “inspire” students, the school said Thursday. Hillary Clinton served as secretary of state during part of that time — from 2009 to 2013.

In her presidential run she has ripped “for-profit colleges” as institutions that have “too often taken advantage of borrowers” and promised a “crackdown on the abusive practices” that defraud taxpayers while burdening students with debt for educational programs of no value.

Making the situation even more complex is the fact that Doug Becker, the founder of Laureate, had donated up to $5 million to the Clinton Foundation.

The arrangement created a contradiction between Bill Clinton’s endorsement of the company and his wife’s admonishment of such firms and opened them up to criticism from opponents.

And more trouble is looming with her emails. A judge said Thursday the State Department must begin releasing the last batch of 15,000 Clinton emails found by the FBI by Sept. 13.

Birdsell said questions about the former president’s “business relationships are fair game.”

“At a rate of pay higher than all but one or two academic leaders in the USA, you'd have to count on an awful lot of new relationships to justify the expense” of Clinton’s salary,” Birdsell added.

The Clinton campaign did not comment. A spokesperson for Bill Clinton did not respond to questions.