The Wall Street Journal reports:
Secret recordings of a suspect talking about the Clinton Foundation fueled an internal battle between FBI agents who wanted to pursue the case and corruption prosecutors who viewed the statements as worthless hearsay, people familiar with the matter said.
Agents, using informants and recordings from unrelated corruption investigations, thought they had found enough material to merit aggressively pursuing the investigation into the foundation that started in summer 2015 based on claims made in a book by a conservative author called “Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich,” these people said. The account of the case and resulting dispute comes from interviews with officials at multiple agencies.
Much of the skepticism toward the case came from how it started—with the publication of a book suggesting possible financial misconduct and self-dealing surrounding the Clinton charity. The author of that book, Peter Schweizer—a former speechwriting consultant for President George W. Bush—was interviewed multiple times by FBI agents, people familiar with the matter said. The Clinton campaign has long derided the book as a poorly researched collection of false claims and unsubstantiated assertions. The Clinton Foundation has denied any wrongdoing, saying it does immense good throughout the world.
Meanwhile, this @WSJ report is extraordinary – & chilling for anyone concerned about law enforcement abuse of power. https://t.co/0YHYQ8W4lu
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) November 3, 2016
The idea that a few @FBI agents (ideological conservatives?) read Peter Schweizer's book "Clinton Cash" and tried to make a case from it…
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) November 3, 2016
Then tried to use recordings not even from the Clinton Foundation to get prosecutors to make that case; and when rebuffed, continued anyway.
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) November 3, 2016
And that sparked the food fight that infected the FBI more broadly, dragging it into the presidential campaign?
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) November 3, 2016
And what @DevlinBarrett's otherwise great story leaves out, is the connection between Clinton Cash and a guy named Stephen Bannon.
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) November 3, 2016
You see, Clinton Cash was written by Peter Schweizer, who heads a shady non-profit in Florida founded by Bannon… https://t.co/AcaYmGF0U1
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) November 3, 2016
Here's what @JoeConason wrote about Schweizer and Bannon back in August: https://t.co/AcaYmGF0U1 pic.twitter.com/AvHefY7DVM
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) November 3, 2016
Because much like the late Andrew Breitbart, he's a wannabe Hollywood mogul, Bannon made Clinton Cash into a movie: https://t.co/Rov01GiYZZ
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) November 3, 2016
And apparently, with the help of some Clinton-hating FBI agents, he also made the error-filled book into a full-blown federal investigation.
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) November 3, 2016