FBI has been investigating Clinton Foundation for months: report

Heidi M. Przybyla | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Justice Dept investigating Clinton Foundation for 'pay for play' The US Justice Department is investigation the Clinton Foundation over allegations of 'pay for play' politics.

WASHINGTON – The FBI has been investigating for months the Clinton Foundation and whether the former U.S. secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered any policy favors for charitable contributions, according to a new report.

Agents in the FBI's field office in Little Rock, Ark., are trying to determine if there is any relationship between donations to the charity and official acts when Clinton was the nation's top diplomat from 2009 to 2013, the Hill newspaper first reported, citing law enforcement officials and a witness.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump repeatedly accused Clinton, the Democratic Party's nominee, of “pay to play.” Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon wrote a documentary alleging the Clintons got rich from their connections with big business and foreign governments.

Representatives for the foundation and Hillary Clinton strongly rejected the basis of the investigation, saying the Trump administration is abusing the Justice Department's powers to punish political enemies and to deflect from a separate probe into his campaign's ties to Russia during the 2016 campaign.

"Let’s call this what it is: A sham," Nick Merrill, a Clinton spokesman, said in an email. "This is a philanthropy that does life-changing work, which Republicans have tried to turn into a political football.

"It began with a long-debunked project spearheaded by Steve Bannon during the presidential campaign," Merrill continued. "It continues with (Attorney General) Jeff Sessions doing Trump’s bidding by heeding his calls to meddle with a department that is supposed to function independently."

The investigation may also examine whether any tax-exempt assets were used for personal or political use and whether the foundation complied with applicable tax laws, according to The Hill.

The Washington Post reported that there is some skepticism inside both the Justice Department and the FBI that the case will lead to any charges.

In August of 2016 during the campaign, the State Department released emails from former Clinton aide Huma Abedin that conservative groups said showed evidence of “special expedited access to the secretary of State” for some donors who had contributed from $25,000 to $10 million to the Clinton Foundation. Many of the exchanges involve former top Foundation executive Doug Band.

Yet Scott Amey, general counsel at the nonpartisan Project on Government Oversight, or POGO, told USA TODAY that while the emails showed some donors requesting meetings and access, there wasn't evidence they were granted, meriting further investigation.

For instance, one 2009 exchange involved Band urging Abedin to get the agency to intervene in order to obtain a visa for members of a British football club, one of whose members was having difficulty because of a “criminal charge.” The campaign said at the time the emails show no action was taken.

Merrill said the goal of the probe "is to distract from the indictments, guilty pleas, and accusations of treason from Trump’s own people at the expense of our justice system’s integrity."

A special counsel and three congressional committees are investigating Russia's election meddling and possible collusion with Trump associates. Robert Mueller's investigation so far has produced criminal charges against four former campaign officials, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn who pleaded guilty last month for lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russians.

More: Experts: New Clinton State Dept. emails show donor ‘access,’ not ‘favors’

More: Trump appears to call for Huma Abedin, ex-Clinton aide, to go to jail