What hath “Clinton Cash” wrought?
Fox News is reporting that the FBI has added a second probe of Hillary Clinton, they’re also investigating whether the Clinton Foundation work and State Department links “may have violated public corruption laws.”
Peter Schweizer’s book “Clinton Cash” released last year along with subsequent investigations indicate that the Clintons may have made millions by living at the intersection of public service and private enrichment.
According to Fox’s Catherine Herridge & Pamela Browne three intelligence sources not authorized to speak on the record told Fox News that this new investigation is on top of the one focusing on whether or not Ms. Clinton kept classified material on her insecure personal email server.
“The agents are investigating the possible intersection of Clinton Foundation donations, the dispensation of State Department contracts and whether regular processes were followed,” one source said.
The development follows press reports over the past year about the potential overlap of State Department and Clinton Foundation work, and questions over whether donors benefited from their contacts inside the administration.
Additionally according to the reporters inside the FBI, pressure is growing to pursue the case.
One intelligence source told Fox News that FBI agents would be “screaming” if a prosecution is not pursued because “many previous public corruption cases have been made and successfully prosecuted with much less evidence than what is emerging in this investigation.”
The FBI is particularly on edge in the wake of how the case of former CIA Director David Petraeus was handled.
The agents believe that the former CIA Director an war hero was given a “slap on the wrist” but should have received bigger punishment. In his case the exposure of classified information was assessed to be limited.
By contrast, in the Clinton case, the number of classified emails has risen to at least 1,340. A 2015 appeal by the State Department to challenge the “Top Secret” classification of at least two emails failed and, as Fox News first reported, is now considered a settled matter.
It is unclear which of the two lines of inquiry was opened first by the FBI and whether they eventually will be combined and presented before a special grand jury. One intelligence source said the public corruption angle dates back to at least April 2015. On their official website, the FBI lists “public corruption as the FBI’s top criminal priority.”
Fox News is told that about 100 special agents assigned to the investigations also were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements, with as many as 50 additional agents on “temporary duty assignment,” or TDY. The request to sign a new NDA could reflect that agents are handling the highly classified material in the emails, or serve as a reminder not to leak about the case, or both.
“The pressure on the lead agents is brutal,” a second source said. “Think of it like a military operation, you might need tanks called in along with infantry.”
However the real question is does Barack Obama care? Will he allow Hillary Clinton to be prosecuted? That is a totally different matter!
