WASHINGTON – Department of Justice (DOJ) records provided to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) offer a behind-the-scenes look at how top leadership during the Obama-Biden administration repeatedly interfered to prevent DOJ prosecutors and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents from investigating the Clinton Foundation’s financial dealings.
“The mainstream media smeared any investigation into Hillary Clinton as unfounded nonsense, but in reality, line agents and federal prosecutors seeking to follow up on legitimate leads were sidelined by partisan leadership looking to save Clinton’s reputation. That’s a night-and-day departure from how the Biden Justice Department handled the Arctic Frost investigation against President Trump,” Grassley said. “For too long, our Justice Department has chosen winners and losers instead of enforcing the law without regard to power, party or privilege. That must never happen again. I thank Attorney General Bondi and Director Patel for turning over these records, so the American people finally know how their Justice Department failed in the Clinton investigations.”
The records, including internal emails and an investigatory timeline, were provided to Grassley in response to his oversight request and whistleblower allegations. Per the records:
View the records and Grassley’s follow-up letter to the DOJ and FBI HERE.
December 15, 2025
VIA ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION
The Honorable Pamela Bondi
Attorney General
Department of Justice
The Honorable Kash Patel
Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Dear Attorney General Bondi and Director Patel:
On July 18, 2025, I wrote to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) requesting records related to whistleblower allegations that during investigations into the Clintons and their associated groups, DOJ prosecutors and FBI agents didn’t receive support from DOJ’s Public Integrity Section (PIN) and FBI executive management for additional investigative steps.[1] Notably, my letter also requested all records relating to the FBI’s Clinton Foundation investigation.[2] My letter was based on years of investigative work with courageous whistleblowers. Since then, your offices have produced records based on these whistleblower disclosures and I appreciate your cooperation with my investigative work.
According to the records obtained by my office, during the Clinton Foundation investigation, FBI Headquarters (HQ) leadership, including former-Deputy Director (DD) McCabe, obstructed investigative activities.[3] Notably, in November 2015, former-DD McCabe’s wife, Dr. Jill McCabe, received over $675,000 from political entities connected to former Virginia Governor and Clinton Foundation Board Member, Terry McAuliffe.[4] According to reports and records, $467,500 came in “monetary contributions” from McAuliffe’s PAC, and $207,788 came from the Virginia Democratic Party as “in-kind contributions,” when McAuliffe was governor of the state.[5] Ultimately, McCabe had to recuse himself from the investigation on November 1, 2016.[6]
According to emails obtained by my office, on July 20, 2016—111 days before the 2016 election—an agent with the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division (CID) stated that, “based on the sensitivities surrounding the Clinton Foundation,” agents were prohibited from “subpoena[ing] additional records related to the Foundation, the Clintons”; “conduct[ing] any interviews related to the Foundation or the Clintons”; and “shar[ing] any of the Foundation bank account info with any other offices.”[7] Emails also show that the FBI “[did] not want to create any impression we are investigating the Clinton Foundation or the Clintons.”[8] Internal FBI emails from January 12, 2017, show that the direction came from “higher, i.e., the DD (McCabe).”[9]
Records provided to my office show that on September 26, 2016, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) obtained a search warrant for the laptop of Anthony Weiner, whose wife, Huma Abedin, was a political aide to Hillary Clinton during her time as Secretary of State, in connection with a child exploitation investigation.[10] During the course of their investigation, the SDNY discovered information on the Weiner laptop connected to the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s mishandling of classified information.[11] According to the records provided to my office, on November 1, 2016, the FBI’s New York Field Office (NYFO) former-Assistant Director in Charge (ADIC) Sweeney, requested that the Clinton Foundation investigative team be allowed to either review the Weiner laptop or be provided a briefing by the Weiner review team, which allegedly FBI HQ initially refused.[12]
For example, according to records provided to my office, on November 7, 2016, then-Executive Assistant Director (EAD) Coleman noted that “[i]t was determined by DD McCabe and EAD Steinbach that any follow on investigative activity concerning the emails located on Anthony Weiner’s laptop would be reviewed by the MIDYEAR investigative team.”[13] Accordingly, it appears that the Clinton Foundation investigators, at that time, had to depend on the MIDYEAR team, which included Peter Strzok, for information.[14]
Furthermore, on July 24, 2017, under the Trump administration, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas (USAO EDAR) and FBI Little Rock reopened their investigation into the Clinton Foundation.[15] During the course of their investigation, in November 2017, the US Attorney for the EDAR, Cody Hiland, requested information from then-head of DOJ PIN Ray Hulser and then-Acting Chief Anna Lou Tirol about “who made the decision to shut the [original] case down.”[16] Documents provided to my office also note that Hulser provided Hiland with a timeline that “omitted ALL references to interference from DOJ and FBI leadership.”[17]
Emails provided to my office also show that during the course of their reopened investigation, in July 2018, attorneys at the EDAR requested additional information to determine “whether sufficient probable cause exists to submit a search warrant affidavit for the Weiner laptop related to violations of 18 U.S.C. 201(b) and 201(c), 18 U.S.C. § 208, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1343, 1344, 18 U.S.C. § 1956, 1957, 18 U.S.C. § 1962 and perhaps other statutes.”[18] EDAR attorneys also stated that for their team to make the assessment, “our office has determined that there is a need to be given access to some of the information described in the OIG Report that was released on June 11, 2018. This is necessary in order to determine if additional information related to these potential violations is currently possessed and already within the government’s knowledge.”[19] According to emails, the request “ruffled some feathers” and the EDAR didn’t “receive[] any response from that request.”[20]
Emails from September 2018 also indicate that Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) Jonathan Ross at the EDAR had concerns about support from Main Justice and PIN regarding the Clinton Foundation investigation, stating that “[b]ut as we have previously discussed, there appear to be conflicts of interest for the leadership there related to the 2016 [Clinton] investigations that undermine any confidence we might normally have in looking to them for assistance.”[21] According to documents provided to my office, prosecutors at the EDAR recommended in July 2019 that a referral be made to the DOJ OIG regarding the “manner in which the investigation had been conducted,” and that they did what they could do “about the interference by DOJ and FBI leadership at the time with the FBI’s [Clinton Foundation] investigation.”[22]
The above are just some examples of interference that occurred when agents and prosecutors investigated the Clinton Foundation. In order for Congress to conduct proper oversight of past DOJ and FBI conduct, please provide the following no later than December 29, 2025:
Thank you for your prompt review and response. If you have any questions, please contact Tucker Akin of my Committee staff at (202) 224-5225.
Sincerely,
Charles E. Grassley
Chairman
Committee on the Judiciary
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[1] Letter from Senator Charles E. Grassley, Chairman, Senate Committee on the Judiciary, to the Honorable Pamela Bondi, Attorney General, Department of Justice, and to the Honorable Kash Patel, Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation (July 18, 2025), On File with Committee Staff.
[2] Id.
[3] Exhibit 1 at 1 (In January-March 2016, “FBI-HQ (DD) [McCabe] directs no overt investigative steps without his approval.”; In March-July 2016, “FBI-HQ (DD & EAD-CID) directs no investigative steps (NYO).”; In August-October 2016, “WFO & LR directed to close. FBI-HQ (DD [McCabe]) choked off. Lacked USAO (EDNY) and DOJ-Crim/PIN support.”).
[4] Id. at 15.
[5] Id.; Devlin Barrett, Clinton Ally Aided Campaign of FBI Official’s Wife (Oct. 24, 2016), Wall Street Journal, https://www.wsj.com/articles/clinton-ally-aids-campaign-of-fbi-officials-wife-1477266114 (“Campaign finance records show Mr. McAuliffe’s political-action committee donated $467,500 to the 2015 state Senate campaign of Dr. Jill McCabe, who is married to Andrew McCabe, now the deputy director of the FBI. The Virginia Democratic Party, over which Mr. McAuliffe exerts considerable control, donated an additional $207,788 worth of support to Dr. McCabe’s campaign in the form of mailers, according to the records.”).
[6] Exhibit 1 at 24.
[7] Id. at 83-84; Department of Justice, Office of Inspector General, A Review of Various Actions by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice in Advance of the 2016 Election (June 2018), https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/18-04.pdf. (According to the June 2018 DOJ OIG report, “[n]o Department policy contains a specific prohibition on overt investigative steps within a particular period before an election. Nevertheless, various witnesses testified that the Department has a longstanding unwritten practice to avoid overt law enforcement and prosecutorial activities close to an election, typically within 60 or 90 days of Election Day.”)
[8] Exhibit 1 at 83-84.
[9] Id.
[10] Id. at 22; AP News, State Department releases emails from Clinton aide (Dec. 30, 2017), Associated Press https://apnews.com/article/45bf7232374f43cab835145e5deabace (“[T]he State Department has released emails from Huma Abedin, a top aide to Hillary Clinton, that were found by the FBI on her husband’s laptop.”).
[11] Exhibit 1 at 1, 5, 19-24, 31, 39-42.
[12] Id. at 6, 24.
[13] Id. at 6, 81.
[14] Id. at 6, 40.
[15] Id. at 27.
[16] Id. at 29.
[17] Id. at 29.
[18] Id. at 39-42.
[19] Id.
[20] Id. at 43.
[21] Id. at 85-87.
[22] Id. at 35, 82.
[23] Id. at 31.
[24] Id. at 64-69.