The Justice Department has renewed its investigation into allegations of corruption levied against the Clinton Foundation, the charity of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, according to multiple reports.
FBI agents in Little Rock, Arkansas, where the foundation was launched, are leading the investigation, The Hill reported Thursday. At least one witness has been interviewed in recent weeks, according to the news site.
The probe is focused on whether Hillary Clinton or her husband exchanged policy favors for donations to the foundation, The Hill reported. Unidentified officials told the news site that agents might also examine "whether any tax-exempt assets were converted for personal or political use and whether the foundation complied with applicable tax laws."
A federal investigation into the allegations was closed in 2016 due to a lack of evidence, The New York Times reported.
It was not immediately clear what prompted the renewed investigation, although a representative of the foundation implied in a statement to CNN that it was likely politically motivated.
"Time after time, the Clinton Foundation has been subjected to politically motivated allegations, and time after time, these allegations have been proven false," Craig Minassian said in the statement. "The Clinton Foundation has demonstrably improved the lives of millions of people across America and around the world while earning top ratings from charity watchdog groups in the process. There are real issues in our society needing attention that the Clinton Foundation works hard to solve every day. So we're going to stay focused on what really matters."
Credit: Daniel Berehulak
Credit: Daniel Berehulak
In a statement to The Hill, the former secretary of state's chief spokesman Nick Merrill echoed Minassian.
"Let's call this what it is: a sham," Merrill told The Hill. "This is a philanthropy that does life-changing work, which Republicans have tried to turn into a political football. It began with a now long-debunked project spearheaded by Steve Bannon during the presidential campaign. It continues with Jeff Sessions doing Trump's bidding by heeding his calls to meddle with a department that is supposed to function independently."
President Donald Trump has multiple times called for further investigations into Hillary Clinton, who he ran against in the 2016 presidential election.
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