FBI has revived probe of Clinton Foundation

WASHINGTON» 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, according to people familiar with the matter.

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, these people said. The people 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 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 Clinton and Trump. Trump has been particularly vocal — both on the campaign trail and as president — about wanting the Justice Department to investigate Hillary Clinton, her allies and her family’s foundation. It was not immediately clear that 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 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,” Hosko said.

The Justice Department declined to comment. The Clinton Foundation inquiry was first reported by The Hill.

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.