Special Counsel John Durham‘s recent report has added some interesting new insights into the FBI’s handling of investigations related to Hillary and Bill Clinton.
The long-anticipated report discusses various investigations that were put on hold just before the 2016 presidential elections. Some Republicans are now calling for these investigations to be fired up again.
Even though Durham’s exhaustive investigation didn’t find any evidence of wrongdoing by the Clintons or the Clinton Foundation, some Republicans are trying to use this report to revisit incidents that have already been looked at closely for years.
The representative for the Clinton Foundation has strongly denied any misconduct, highlighting that the Durham report actually underlines the lack of evidence for these accusations. They also brought up past investigations by the Justice Department during Trump’s time in office and by House Republicans in 2018, all of which ended without finding any evidence of misconduct.
According to the report, the FBI launched an investigation in 2014 after a secret source claimed there might be illegal donations from two foreign governments to Hillary Clinton’s campaign for special favors.
This source backed up their claims with proof of an illegal donation of $2,700, which apparently led to an even larger donation. The report uncovers that in 2016, three FBI field offices – in Washington, DC, Little Rock, Arkansas, and New York – began probing possible illegal activities linked to the Clinton Foundation.
Although these investigations made some headway, they were put on hold by top officials, as revealed in Durham’s report. This revelation has sparked renewed demands from current and former Republicans for a second look at the alleged crimes related to the Clintons.
Florida’s Republican Representative Matt Gaetz, who’s on the House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee investigating political bias in the FBI, voiced his concerns about the Clintons. Gaetz suggested that there were individuals within the FBI who were trying to shield the Clintons from legal consequences. In the same vein, former Republican congressman Jason Chaffetz, who previously chaired the House Oversight Committee, criticized the FBI for not fulfilling its duties and urged for the Clinton investigations to be reopened.
The thorough 316-page report, given to Attorney General Merrick Garland on May 12, revealed specifics about the FBI’s probes into the Clintons. It highlighted a stark contrast between the detailed investigation into Trump’s alleged ties with Russia by the FBI and Justice Department, and their seemingly softer approach towards the Clinton investigations.
The report delved into a January 2016 finding by the Little Rock Field Office, suggesting a federal public official might have accepted large donations in return for favorable government action through a nonprofit they controlled. Additionally, the report quoted sources alleging foreign governments attempted to secure special treatment from Clinton in exchange for donations to the Clinton Foundation.
