Justice Department officials decided against an investigation into the Clinton Foundation after the FBI requested the agency open a case into allegations of corruption stemming from Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state. But the Justice Department’s public integrity unit declined to pursue the probe given what it characterized as insufficient evidence, according to a CNN report Wednesday.
The State Department’s seemingly preferrential treatment of foundation donors under Clinton’s leadership has raised questions about whether she and her aides ignored conflicts of interest in order to help the charity’s most generous donors. Emails made public this week have deepened suspicions that donors were afforded access and favors that other outsiders could not get from the agency.
The Trump campaign seized on reports Thursday that the Obama administration rejected requests from three FBI field offices that wanted to open public corruption cases involving the Clinton Foundation and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
After banks alerted the field offices to suspicious activity involving the Clinton family charity, the FBI wanted to investigate conflicts of interest stemming from foreign donations during Mrs. Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state, CNN reported.
“Today’s news that President Obama’s Department of Justice overruled three separate DOJ field offices and the FBI in declining to open a public corruption charge against the Clinton Foundation shows a troubling pattern of Obama and Clinton politicizing any government institution for their own personal political interests,” Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller said in a statement.
“This latest refusal to allow even a cursory investigation into the Clinton Foundation’s pay-for-play dealings smacks of political favoritism. This is exactly why the American public has lost trust in the U.S. government and is ready to elect an outsider like Donald Trump,” Mr. Miller said.
The revelation of the blocked corruption probe follows criticism of decision the Justice Department not to pursue criminal charges against Mrs. Clinton for her secret email setup as secretary of state, despite the FBI’s determination that she was “extremely careless” and mishandled classified information.
Report prepared from Red State, CNN and The Washington Times
