FBI director James Comey would not comment Thursday when asked directly by Congress, under oath, whether his department is still investigating Hillary Clinton in connection with possible corruption related to the Clinton Foundation.
Comey had announced Tuesday that he would not recommend prosecuting Hillary Clinton for mishandling classified information, despite the fact that her behavior was “extremely careless.”
However, Comey did not say anything about investigation into the Clinton Foundation, which now still appears to be ongoing.
That investigation involves suspicions that the former Secretary of State abused her role to solicit donations for her family’s private charity — including donations from some foreign governments.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chair of the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform, asked: “Did you look at the Clinton Foundation?”
Comey responded: “I’m not going to comment on the existence or non-existince of any other investigations.”
He also said he would not answer whether the Clinton Foundation was “tied into” the investigation of Clinton’s email server.
It was nearly five hours into the hearing before Comey was asked about the bureau’s investigation of the Clinton Foundation, which reportedly concerns how the foundation’s interests, and the interests of its contributors, intersected with decisions made by Clinton during her 2009 to 2013 tenure as secretary of state.
In January, Fox News reported: “The FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of private email as secretary of state has expanded to look at whether the possible “intersection” of Clinton Foundation work and State Department business may have violated public corruption laws, three intelligence sources not authorized to speak on the record told Fox News.”
The charges relate to patterns of questionable behavior described by Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer in his bestselling book, Clinton Cash.
For example, the Clinton Foundation hid a donation from the head of a Russian-owned uranium company that later acquired American uranium. The deal, which the State Department had helped approve, allows the Russian government effectively to control 20% of U.S. uranium. In addition, former President Bill Clinton earned large sums for giving speeches to “numerous companies and individuals with interests pending before the State Department.” Examples of similar behavior abound.
The Clinton Foundation was established by President Bill Clinton in 2009 after he left the White House and as his wife was taking over Foggy Bottom.
In February, the Washington Post reported that State Department investigators from the Office of the Inspector General subpoenaed records from the foundation in the fall of 2015 that were related to Clinton Foundation projects that would have required federal approvals to to proceed.
During her tenure as secretary, the IG’s office was vacant.
Hillary Clinton resigned from the foundation’s board of directors in 2013, but her daughter Chelsea and her husband remain on the board, as does Cheryl Mills, who has acted as an aide and attorney for the former first lady.
There is reason to believe Hillary Clinton set up her private email server in order to hide such transactions from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
Whether, and when, an investigation into the Clinton Foundation will be concluded is unknown.
Neil W. McCable contributed to this report.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. His new book, See No Evil: 19 Hard Truths the Left Can’t Handle, will be published by Regnery on July 25 and is available for pre-order through Amazon. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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