It seems that all bets are off regarding the possibility of criminal charges for Hillary Clinton, as it’s being reported that the FBI are continuing their investigation into corruption at the Clinton Foundation.
Shortly after Donald Trump defeated Clinton on November 8th he told 60 minutes in an exclusive interview that he wasn’t going to pursue a criminal investigation in his opponent once he takes office, much to the disappointment of his supporters who would often break out into chants of “Lock her up!” at his rallies.
Now, according to The Daily Caller New Foundation, the FBI at the New York City field office are going to “move forward” in the investigation of corruption at the Clinton Foundation.
Officials at FBI headquarters instructed its New York field office to continue its corruption investigation into the Clinton Foundation following the election of Republican candidate Donald Trump, according to a former senior law enforcement official.
The instructions ordered agents to “go forward” with their ongoing inquiry into the Clinton Foundation which is focusing on issues of corruption and money laundering, according to the source.
“There were no instructions to shut it down, to discontinue or to stand down on the investigation, but to continue its work,” the former official told the Daily Caller News Foundation in an interview.
He said he received this information about a week ago and that the order originated from the bureau’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. well after the Nov. 8 election. He did not know who at FBI Headquarters issued the order.
The same source broke the news to TheDCNF that the FBI was conducting a multi-city probe of the foundation in as many as five cities: New York, Little Rock, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Miami. The source did not know the status of the bureau’s work in the four other cities.
Although Donald Trump said he personally would not seek criminal charges against Hillary Clinton, he never specifically mentioned the ongoing investigation into the Clinton Foundation’s activities, which could effectively collapse the Clinton’s international money collection endeavors.
According to the Wikileaks Podesta emails released last month, Chelsea Clinton used funds from the Clinton Foundation for her high profile and very expensive wedding in addition to various other conflicts of interest uncovered from an internal audit.
Former President Bill Clinton’s top aide wrote in 2012 that Chelsea Clinton used Clinton Foundation resources “for her wedding and life for a decade” and a top Foundation donor was responsible for “killing” unfavorable press coverage – all as an internal Foundation audit uncovered numerous conflicts of interest and “quid pro quo benefits,” according to emails released Sunday by WikiLeaks.
Doug Band, founder of global strategies company Teneo and Bill Clinton’s personal assistant since the 1990s, wrote the Jan. 4, 2012, email to future Hillary Clinton presidential campaign chair John Podesta and two other Clinton aides after receiving word that Chelsea had told “one of the [President] bush 43 kids” and others about “an internal investigation of money within the foundation.” Band wrote such chatter was “not smart.”
Another batch of Wikileaks emails from John Podesta showed a pattern of corruption and internal conflicts at the Clinton Foundation, while staff were often put in controversial positions.
On November 1, WikiLeaks released an email from Clinton campaign chair John Podesta that provided perspective into the corrupt inner conflicts of the controversial nonprofit the Clinton Foundation.
“I cannot stress enough that if this is not handled appropriately it will blow up,” wrote Tina Flournoy, Bill Clinton’s chief of staff, in an April 8, 2015, email to Podesta. The subject of the email was “CHAI” referring to the Clinton Health Access Initiative.
The day before, on April 7, Flournoy noted in an email to Podesta and other Clinton staff, “do you guys know where we are—as of today—on CHAI? That needs to be discussed—but he’s about to lose it if we don’t wrap the call.”
Given Donald Trump’s penchant for upholding the law, often branding himself the “law and order candidate”, it’s likely a safe bet that he will give the FBI the autonomy they need to perform a solid investigation into the Clinton foundation, without politics influencing their findings.