The FBI investigation regarding the Clinton Foundation and possible corruption has been underway for more than a year and is now a very high priority within the FBI, according to several sources, according to Fox News.
According to these sources, FBI agents have done interviews multiple times with many witnesses for a criminal case against the Clinton Foundation. The case is examining potential pay for play interaction between Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time, and the Clinton Foundation.
The White Collar Crime Division at the FBI is handling this investigation.
FBI’s investigation of the Clinton Foundation has been going on for more than a yr. Now has a “very high priority” https://t.co/2JsRO6nlY4
— VeritasChick🇺🇸 (@Jetschick80) November 3, 2016
Even before the large email dumps by Wikileaks that are allegedly tied to the Clinton campaign, FBI agents have said that they collected large amounts of evidence against the Clinton Foundation.
One source noted that there is an avalanche of new data that is coming in daily and some of it is from Wikileaks documents and some from new emails. FBI agents are pursuing the Clinton Foundation case and will be interviewing some of the same people again in the coming weeks.
FBI agents also are reviewing what Clinton said and what her aides have said in earlier interviews. FBI agents are comparing those statements to the documents that they use to report on interviews that they do, to ensure that these notes are consistent.
The possible pay for play case with the Clinton Foundation generally involves the possible federal crime of corruption. Clinton was secretary of state, and if people and entities who donated to the Clinton Foundation received favorable treatment by the State Department, this is the definition of corruption.
Public corruption is a very broad category of many white collar crimes. It is defined by a breach of the public trust or an abuse of power by a duly elected official. Corruption can happen if the person gets a bribe or solicits one.
All states have laws against corruption, but federal corruption charges are more likely if the alleged perpetrator is or was a member of the US government. The federal authorities also can get involved if there is a conspiracy to commit corrupt acts across state lines. Federal government officials engaging in corrupt acts are thought to be some of the most serious and are aggressively prosecuted by the Justice Department.
Federal corruption laws state that no government official can ask for, demand, solicit, accept or agree to receive any item of value in return for changing the performance of their official duties in any way. Public corruption is related to bribery; this is the federal charge that is used when someone offers a public official something of value in order to gain an illicit advantage in some type of public matter.
Other reports regarding the Clinton Foundation this week have stated that some FBI sources say that an indictment is likely. According to Fox News, two FBI sources have revealed the following information about the Clinton Foundation investigation:
- The investigation into the Clinton Foundation is more expansive than has been reported in the media to date.
- Laptops from Cherryl Mills and Heather Samuelson, top Clinton aides, have not been destroyed. Agents are going through those computers.
- Agents have discovered emails that they think may have originated on Clinton’s secret server on Andrew Weiner’s laptop. They say the emails are not copies of other emails and some could be classified material.
- FBI sources have stated that an indictment is likely in the pay for play investigation into the Clinton Foundation. However, the Justice Department could obstruct the indictment, although the political consequences of doing so could be substantial.
- FBI sources claim that Hillary Clinton’s server was hacked by a minimum of five foreign intelligence agencies, and information was stolen.
The Wall Street Journal also reported that secret recordings of a suspect discussing the Clinton Foundation fueled a battle inside the FBI, some of whom wanted to pursue the case. Corruption prosecutors thought the statements were hearsay and should be ignored.
FBI agents used recordings and informants from other corruption investigations, and they believed they had sufficient evidence to merit investigating the Clinton Foundation case that began in the summer of 2015.
The WSJ reported that from early 2016, FBI agents and public corruption prosecutors became frustrated with each other, which is common within and between departments in these types of investigations. At the center of the problems was the US Attorney Robert Capers, who some at the FBI thought was making the problems worse by telling both sides what he thought they wanted to hear.
The source of the disputes was a strong disagreement over how strong the case way. The investigation centered on whether people who contributed to the Clinton Foundation got favorable treatment from the State Department when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state.
Justice Department and senior FBI officials did not think the evidence was strong, while investigators thought the leads were promising and their bosses wouldn’t allow them to follow up on them.