A newly released report by CNN reveals that the Justice Department refused a request from the FBI to launch an investigation into the Clinton Foundation amid allegations of corruption during Hillary Clintons time as Secretary of State.
According to the report, the DOJs public integrity unit declined to pursue the FBI request citing that they had “insufficient evidence” to launch an investigation.
A batch of emails released just this week reignites skepticism that, during her time as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and her top aides catered to the interests of the Clinton Foundations top donors despite conflict of interest concerns at the State Department.
The latest probe brought to light 296 never publicly seen emails from Clinton’s private server, including 44 emails that Judicial Watch, the conservative watchdog group who issued the FOA, says Clinton failed to turn over to the State Department. The heavily redacted emails show her top aides, such as Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills, working very closely with top Clinton officials such as Doug Band.
In one notable exchange between Band, Abedin, and Mills, Band tried to solicit a job for a third party person, whose name was not revealed, stating that it was “important to take care of (redacted).” Abedin replied to the email stating that State Department Personnel had already “been sending him options.”
Another email sent by Band in 2009 instructs Abedin and Mills to put Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire Gilbert Chagoury, a top Clinton Foundation donor, in contact with the “substance person” on Lebanon at the State Department.
Band wrote that it was “very imp.” to follow through because “he’s a key guy there and to us and is beloved in Lebanon.” Abedin wrote back letting Bands know that person was Jeffrey Feltman, then US ambassador to Lebanon, and confirmed she would “talk to jeff.”
Feltman spoke to CNN on Wednesday and said, “I have never met nor spoken with Mr Chagoury. I was not aware of the proposal that he speak to me until this email exchange was released, but in any case we never spoke.”
Tom Filton, the President of Judicial Watch, has no doubt Clinton and her people hid those 44 emails on purpose stating, “they show the Clinton Foundation, Clinton donors, and operatives worked with Hillary Clinton in potential violation of the law.”
The information comes just weeks after the FBI concluded an investigation into Clintons private server emails and suggested no charges be pressed against Clinton of her staff. The DOJ accepted the FBIs recommendation mere days after Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Former President Bill Clinton engaged in a private meeting on an airport tarmac in Arizona. No media or Government personnel were a part of their encounter.
