An FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation is likely to lead to an indictment unless the Justice Department interferes, two sources familiar with the probe told Fox News.
The Clintons are accused of running a pay-for-play operation out of the State Department that favored donors to their charity – a charge they have denied.
But the feds are ‘actively and aggressively pursuing this case,’ Fox’s Brit Hume said Wednesday, and they have an ‘avalanche’ of evidence.
A Wall Street Journal report says the FBI’s pursuit of the case is rooted in recordings of a suspect in a different corruption case who spoke about the Clinton Foundation’s alleged dirty dealings.
The FBI, under the leadership of director James Comey, believed those conversations were enough to move forward with the probe, the Journal says. Justice Department prosecutors disagreed because the source was not an employee of the Clinton Foundation.
They considered the talk to be hearsay and did not think it would be enough to sway a grand jury.
Fox is now reporting that federal investigators have collected ‘a lot of’ evidence, including Wikileaks emails to and foundation officials.
The law enforcement agency has at least four other investigations open that involve the Clintons and their close friends, as well.
The FBI’s probe into the foundation is much larger than has previously been reported, the network says. Some witnesses are being interviewed for a third time.
It is a ‘very high priority,’ Fox’s sources said.
An indictment is likely to be handed down in the case, Fox says, unless investigators are obstructed by the DOJ’s prosecutors.
The Journal says that as recently as August 12 the FBI was told to stand down by DOJ in a terse phone call.
‘Are you telling me that I need to shut down a validly predicated investigation?’ the FBI’s deputy director Andrew McCabe reportedly replied. The Justice Department official on the other end of the line said, ‘Of course not.’
That was before Wikileaks began publishing hacked emails from Clinton confidante John Podesta’s account ripping the lid off foundation operations.
McCabe’s wife’s Virginia senate campaign was backed heavily by a political action committee belonging to the Clintons’ close friend Terry McAuliffe. Hillary Clinton headlined a fundraiser for the PAC a month before it started donating to the FBI official’s spouse.