Hillary Clinton (shown) is in the middle of yet another investigation. Although she is already being investigated by numerous agencies in connection to a litany of crimes, Clinton can add to that a new investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) into whether the Clinton Foundation engaged in criminal activity including “pay-for-play” when she was secretary of state, according to a report by The Hill.
As The New American has reported on numerous previous occasions, the Clinton Foundation was at the center of a “pay-for-play” scheme in which both American citizens and foreign nationals were granted access to the higher tiers of government after making substantial “donations” to the foundation.
When she was secretary of state, Clinton sent and received at least 2,079 classified e-mails over her unsecured, unauthorized, private e-mail server and account. Many of those and other e-mails showed that she was involved in an illegal scheme to blur the lines between the Department of State and the Clinton Foundation by soliciting “donations” to the foundation in exchange for access to the U.S. government — essentially auctioning off access to the Department of State. As this writer said in a previous article (dated August 30, 2016) about the Clinton “pay-for-play” scheme:
The germane point here, though, is her claim that she had “met all of [her] responsibilities” by turning over a USB drive containing about 30,000 e-mails that she claimed were all of her work-related e-mails. As was widely reported last week, that turns out not to be the case at all. In fact, the FBI has discovered that Clinton withheld at least 14,900 work-related e-mails. That’s half as many as she turned over. As The New American has said in other articles about new e-mails which had been released, it is clear she had something to hide. Now, it appears that at least part of that something was that, as secretary of state, she was essentially auctioning off access to the Department of State.
Among the e-mails recently disclosed are numerous e-mail conversations showing that access to the State Department was often for ticket-holders only. And those tickets were handled by the Clinton Foundation.
That article cited an article from Breitbart that said:
In one flagrant example, the Crown Prince of Bahrain was forced to go through the Clinton Foundation to get access to the secretary of state. He got it after pledging $32 million to the Clinton Global Initiative.
While the situation involving the Crown Prince of Bahrain was — as Breitbart accurately described it — “flagrant,” it was far from an anomaly. The New York Post reported, “A staggering 85 of the 154 private citizens who managed to meet or speak with [Clinton] by phone donated money to the Clinton Foundation.” Much of the “pay-for-play” at the Department of State was handled by longtime Clinton associate and protege Huma Abedin, who worked four different jobs at the same time — all with connections (in one way or another) to Clinton. As this writer explained those jobs in a previous article:
During Hillary Clinton’s time as secretary of state, Abedin was her deputy chief of staff. During that time Abedin had a “special government employee” arrangement that allowed her to work other jobs. At one point she held four jobs simultaneously. All of those jobs were connected, in one way or another, to Hillary Clinton. She was part time aide to Hillary Clinton at the State Department, personal assistant to Hillary Clinton, salaried employee of the Clinton Foundation, and private consultant for Teneo Holdings, which was founded by three partners all with close ties to the Clintons.
So, during her time at the Department of State, Abedin had four bosses and three of them were Hillary Clinton. It appears that as part of her job with the Clinton Foundation, Abedin used her job at the Department of State to grant access to that department in a way that raised millions of dollars for the foundation in exchange for access to those who set and carry out U.S. policy. Clinton has pooh-poohed the idea that she was involved in such a scheme and has thus far managed to avoid an investigation into it. But that was then; this is now. And now the Department of Justice is investigating Clinton and company for “pay-for-play.”
On Thursday, The Hill reported that “FBI agents from Little Rock, Ark., where the foundation was started, have taken the lead in the investigation and have interviewed at least one witness in the last month, and law enforcement officials said additional activities are expected in the coming weeks.” Furthermore, officials — “who spoke only on condition of anonymity” — are cited by The Hill as saying, “the probe is examining whether the Clintons promised or performed any policy favors in return for largesse to their charitable efforts or whether donors made commitments of donations in hopes of securing government outcomes.”
The Hill has also interviewed at least one witness who was questioned by FBI agents handling the case. That witness — who also spoke only on the condition of anonymity — “said the agents were from Little Rock and their questions focused on government decisions and discussions of donations to Clinton entities during the time Hillary Clinton led President Obama’s State Department,” according to The Hill.
Clinton — who was given not one, but two passes in the dog-and-pony show that was passed off as an investigation into her illegal use of a private e-mail server — has recently found herself in the crosshairs of numerous investigations looking into not only that e-mail scandal, but also the UraniumGate scandal, and elements of the Russian collusion probe. Furthermore, there has been talk of investigating Clinton and the DNC for illegally hiding their bankrolling of the fake Trump “dossier” that was at ground zero of the Russian collusion probe in the first place.
When it rains, it pours.
Adding this new investigation to that list, it seems likely that at least one of these darts will hit their mark. In November 2016, this writer asked if Trump would launch investigations into Clinton’s many crimes. It was a reasonable question, given that he had promised her that if he were president, she would “be in jail.” It now appears that he did not need to personally direct those investigations. They are simply the natural byproduct of a shift in the political winds. With the exit of many of those who have been running interference for Clinton, the chickens may be coming home to roost.
If one or more of these investigations produces any real results, Trump may yet deliver on another promise and Clinton may wind up in jail.
Hillary Clinton: UN photo
