The FBI instead directed efforts to investigate Trump.
QUICK FACTS:
- According to information in the Durham Report, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) stopped investigations into Hillary and Bill Clinton and the Clinton Foundation leading up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
- The FBI investigated claims of “criminal activity” associated with the Clinton Foundation, reports the New York Post.
- According to Durham’s report, the Little Rock, Arkansas field office looked into claims that a commercial industry “likely engaged a federal public official in a flow of benefits scheme, namely, large monetary contributions were made to a non-profit, under both direct and indirect control of the federal public official, in exchange for favorable government action and/or influence.”
- The Washington Field Office opened a preliminary investigation into the Clinton Foundation to “corroborate the allegations in a recently-published book, Clinton Cash,” that described the Clintons accepting millions of dollars from foreign governments.
- Another investigation between the Little Rock and New York field offices operated off of claims that foreign governments made, or offered to make, donations to the Clinton Foundation “in exchange for favorable or preferential treatment from Clinton,” reads Durham’s report.
- Yet another investigation opened when the FBI learned from a “well-placed” source known as CHS-A that a foreign government was looking to add a foreign individual to Clinton’s expected presidential campaign.
- CHS-A allegedly made a $2,700 campaign donation on behalf of a foreign individual without the knowledge of his or her FBI handler.
- Such a donation violates campaign laws, as foreign nationals cannot contribute to election campaigns.
- However, investigation was prematurely ended in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, the FBI telling the informant to “stay away from all events relating to Clinton’s campaign.”
AFTERMATH OF THE CLINTON INVESTIGATIONS:
- Durham’s report notes that Hillary Clinton allegedly “approved a campaign plan to stir up a scandal against U.S. Presidential candidate Donald Trump by tying him to Putin and the Russians’ hacking of the Democratic National Committee.”
- This operation is known as Crossfire Hurricane.
- “Contrasted with the FBI’s rapid opening of Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI appears to have made no effort to investigate the possible illegal campaign contribution,” Durham’s report states.
BACKGROUND:
- The Durham Report described how the Deputy Assistant Director for Counterintelligence, Peter Strzok, had “pronounced hostile feelings toward Trump” prior to Crossfire Hurricane, the name for the FBI’s failed investigation into Russian ties to the Trump campaign.
- The FBI also opened the investigation “without ever having spoken to the persons who provided the information” regarding connections between Trump and Russia.
- The FBI did not use “any of the standard analytical tools typically employed by the FBI in evaluating raw intelligence” while investigating Trump, according to the Durham Report.
- “Had it done so…the FBI would have learned that their own experienced Russia analysts had no information about Trump being involved with Russian leadership officials, nor were others in sensitive positions at the CIA, the NSA, and the Department of State aware of such evidence concerning the subject,” the report says.
