FBI investigating Clinton Foundation
Feds revive probe that was halted during 2016 election amid justice infighting
The FBI has been quietly investigating the Clinton Foundation for months, reviving a probe that was dialed back during the 2016 election amid tensions between Justice Department prosecutors and FBI agents about the politically charged case, according to people familiar with the matter.
The investigation is being run out of the FBI’s field office in Little Rock, Ark., where the foundation has offices in the William J. Clinton Presidential Center, the people said. Agents are trying to determine if any donations made to the foundation were linked to official acts when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, these people said.
It was not immediately clear what specific donations or interactions agents were scrutinizing, and there was some skepticism inside both the Justice Department and the FBI that the case would ultimately lead to any charges. The very existence of such a probe will likely lead to accusations from Democrats that the Republican administration is pursuing old, dead cases to punish political enemies.
U.S. President Donald Trump has urged the Justice Department to prosecute Clinton and her aides. But while the Clinton Foundation investigation was stopped in 2016, that stoppage at the time was described by people familiar with the matter as temporary because Justice Department officials were concerned that if details of the probe were to become public, it would appear that investigators were trying to hurt Clinton’s chances in the election.
In a statement, Clinton Foundation spokesperson Craig Minassian said: “Time after time, the Clinton Foundation has been subjected to politically motivated allegations, and time after time these allegations have been proven false. None of this has made us waver in our mission to help people. The Clinton Foundation has demonstrably improved the lives of millions of people across America and around the world while earning top ratings from charity watchdog groups in the process. There are real issues in our society needing attention that the Clinton Foundation works hard to solve every day. So we’re going to stay focused on what really matters.”
Republicans have raised concerns about what they viewed as corruption and conflicts of interest at the Clinton Foundation, in particular Hillary Clinton’s dealings with its donors while she was secretary of state.
The Clinton Foundation probe dates back to 2015, when FBI agents in Los Angeles, New York, Little Rock and Washington, began looking at a variety of different figures who had made donations to the charity, based largely on news accounts, according to people familiar with the matter. In 2016, Justice Department prosecutors rejected a request from FBI agents to expand and intensify the foundation investigation, these people said.
Republican lawmakers had called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions in July and again in September to explore various Clinton Foundation dealings, as well as other matters, by appointing a special counsel to look into Clinton-related issues.