WSJ: Justice Department officials told agents investigating Clinton Foundation to stand down

Brett T. | 11:37 PM on November 02, 2016

FBI agents investigating the Clinton Foundation were told to stand down by Justice Department officials, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday night.

Breaking: Secret recordings discussing Clinton Foundation fueled a battle on whether to pursue a corruption probe https://t.co/3bxL08qsRP ?

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) November 3, 2016

The Journal reports that tensions arose when talk about the Clinton Foundation arose in secret recordings of a suspect in another corruption case. Some FBI agents wanted to pursue the leads, but State Department officials “weren’t impressed” with the FBI’s presentation at a February meeting:

Justice Department officials became increasingly frustrated that the agents seemed to be disregarding or disobeying their instructions.

Following the February meeting, officials at Justice Department headquarters sent a message to all the offices involved to “stand down,’’ a person familiar with the matter said.

Secret recordings? A stand-down order? Carl Bernstein did just assure us that in no way were Hillary Clinton’s emails worse than Watergate, but let’s say you combined that scandal with the corruption inside the Clinton Foundation. That would be hard to beat.

Secret recordings suggesting Clinton Foundation crimes ignored by Obama Justice. Worse than Watergate. https://t.co/IZ2SD3leOE via @WSJ

— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) November 3, 2016

https://twitter.com/takerealrisks/status/793998036036788224

FBI agents had multiple informants and taped descriptions of corruption allegations; DOJ sent a "stand down" order. https://t.co/eIFmZkLKCE

— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) November 3, 2016