FBI has resumed probe of Clinton Foundation
Dems fear decision is a political maneuver
The FBI has been investigating the Clinton Foundation for months, reviving a probe that was dialed back during the 2016 campaign amid tensions between Justice Department prosecutors and FBI agents about the politically charged case.
The inquiry resumed about a year ago. Agents are now 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, said sources who did not identify what specific donations or interactions agents are scrutinizing.
Word of the Clinton investigation comes at a particularly fraught time for the Justice Department and FBI, as it tries to navigate several polarizing issues, including an ongoing special-counsel probe of President Donald Trump and his associates, as well as demands from Republicans in Congress that Ms. Clinton be reinvestigated on a host of issues. Among those issues is the foundation case.
Members of both parties have accused the FBI and the Justice Department of partisan bias in their probes of Ms. Clinton and Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump has been particularly vocal — both on the campaign trail and as president — about wanting the Justice Department to investigate Ms. Clinton, her allies and her family’s foundation. It was not clear
whether Mr. Trump’s rhetoric had any influence in spurring the FBI to resume its work, nor could it be determined whether that work began before or after he took office.
However, the probe’s very existence already has led to accusations from Democrats that the Republican administration is pursuing old, dead cases to punish political enemies. A continued probe of Ms. Clinton could be viewed, particularly by Republicans, as the department being evenhanded in its approach to political cases.
Ron Hosko, a former assistant FBI director, said the bureau has been thrust into a “political minefield,” with pundits criticizing its every move.
“This is where big boys earn their pay, and this is where I think you put your nose to the grind stone,” Mr. Hosko said.
The Justice Department declined to comment. The Clinton Foundation inquiry was first reported by The Hill.
In a statement, Clinton Foundation spokesman 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.”
The Clinton Foundation probe dates back to 2015, when FBI agents in Los Angeles, New York, Little Rock and Washington began looking at those who had made donations to the charity, based largely on news accounts, according to people familiar with the matter.
But in 2016, Justice Department prosecutors rejected a request from FBI agents to expand and intensify their work. They asked that the bureau not take any investigative steps that could become public, out of worry they could affect the impending election.
The investigation resumed some time after the election, with the FBI’s Little Rock office taking the lead, said one person familiar with the matter. Still, there was some skepticism inside the Justice Department that it would ever produce charges.
“It was never a great case, but it’s still being worked,” one person familiar with the probe said.
Republicans in particular have long raised concerns about what they viewed as corruption and conflicts of interest at the Clinton Foundation, in particular Ms. Clinton’s dealings with its donors while she was secretary of state. GOP 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.
In November, the Justice Department wrote that Mr. Sessions would direct senior prosecutors to look into the cases about which they raised concerns and hinted that some might already be under investigation.