Among the revelations in special counsel John Durham’s report on the origins of the Trump-Russia collusion narrative was a section that described an FBI decision to pull back investigators from a probe into the Clinton Foundation.
Four years after the investigation began, Durham outlined a number of items about accusations that former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia. He found that such allegations did not have the proper amount of evidence to launch an investigation.
Furthermore, Durham described a number of instances of the politicization of federal law enforcement.
One such example was the FBI ending a potential investigation into the Clinton Foundation.
FBI Leadership Sabotaged Clinton Foundation Investigations: Durham Report https://t.co/COdAI0PXZb
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 17, 2023
According to the report, “three different FBI field offices” began investigations into “possible criminal activity involving the Clinton Foundation.”
The case allegedly “referred to an intelligence product and corroborating financial reporting” regarding a possible “flow of benefits scheme, namely large monetary contributions were made to a non-profit under both direct and direct control of the federal public official, in exchange for the favorable government and/or influence.”
Furthermore, two FBI field offices’ investigations “included predication based on source reporting that identified foreign governments that had made, or offered to make, contributions to the Foundation in exchange for favorable or preferential treatment from Clinton.”
The report cited a source close to Hillary Clinton herself who stated that her campaign accepted a foreign donation and that the FBI was “tippy-toeing” around the situation “because there was a chance she would be the next President.”
Durham uncovered evidence that then-FBI chief James Comey ordered the FBI’s New York field office to end the investigation due to a “counterintelligence concern.”
Durham cited this as a “noticeable departure” from how Clinton and Trump’s campaigns were treated by the FBI.
A recent opinion piece published by Fox News argued that Durham’s findings will likely aid Trump’s 2024 campaign and further reduced public trust in the federal government.
In particular, the piece by former Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) asserted that there is a “political litmus test” by the Department of Justice when approaching investigations.