Top prosecutor on special counsel Jack Smith's team shut down FBI ... trends now
A top prosecutor on Special Counsel Jack Smith's team who indicted Donald Trump last year previously recommended that the FBI shut down investigations into the Clinton Foundation in 2016.
Ray Hulser was the official identified in Special Counsel John Durham's bombshell report who declined to prosecute the Clintons while serving as the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section chief. He is now working with Smith to put former president Donald Trump behind bars for alleged crimes connected to January 6.
A long-awaited report by Durham released in May 2023 showed the FBI began investigating claims in late 2014 from a 'well-placed' confidential source that two foreign governments were trying to make illegal donations to buy influence with Hillary during her presidential campaign.
The report revealed three different FBI field offices, in Washington, D.C., Little Rock, Arkansas, and New York, launched investigations into the Clinton Foundation in early 2016 for 'possible criminal activity.'
But Hulser insisted there was 'insufficient predication' for opening at least one of the investigations by the field offices, and declined to prosecute during a meeting on February 1, 2016.
Hulser told Durham in an interview that the 'FBI briefing was poorly presented and that there was insufficient predication for at least one of the investigations due to its reliance on allegations contained in a book.'
The Special Counsel's report revealed that the FBI began investigating claims in late 2014 that two foreign governments were trying to make illegal donations to buy influence with Hillary during her presidential campaign
Three FBI field offices also launched probes into 'possible criminal activity' involving the Clinton Foundation in early 2016, the report shows
Ray Hulser was the official identified in Special Counsel John Durham 's bombshell report who declined to prosecute the Clintons while serving as the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section chief
According to the report, he also 'downplayed information provided by the New York Field Office CHS [confidential human source] and recalled that the amount involved in the financial reporting was ‘de minimis.'
One of the investigations was partly based on statements made in journalist Peter Schweizer's 2015 book, Clinton Cash, claiming the Clintons' charity was taking millions in donations from foreign governments trying to change U.S. foreign policy while Hillary was Secretary of State.
The report went on to say that although Hulser 'declined prosecution' on behalf of the Public Integrity Section, he 'made it clear, however, that his decision was not binding on the various U.S. Attorneys' Offices or FBI field divisions.'
But despite making progress, all of the investigations were shut down by more senior officials, Durham found.
An acting section chief from the FBI's Office of General Counsel who was also present at the February 1 meeting, kept anonymous by Durham, said that the Justice Department's reaction was 'hostile.'
The report detailed a second meeting three weeks later on February 22, chaired by then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who 'initially directed the field offices to close their cases.'
McCabe himself had recent ties to the Clintons.
His wife Jill was recruited by Clinton aide and ally, Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe, to run for state senate in March 2015, while McCabe was director of the FBI DC field office.
Hulser is currently a member Jack Smith's prosecution team - which has been in a bitter back-and-forth with Trump's attorneys since they indicted the former president last year.
Trump was hit with federal criminal charges in August over his attempts to cling to power after losing the 2020 election and for allegedly spreading 'lies' and 'sham' investigations while stoking an 'angry' mob on January 6.
Trump is facing four counts including conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and obstruct the electoral count for trying to overturn the 2020 election. The 45-page indictment says he was 'determined to remain in power' despite 'having lost.'
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Special Counsel John Durham released his report into the origins of the Trump-Russia collusion after three years of investigations in May 2023
Durham released his 300+ page bombshell report last spring - a comprehensive summary of findings related to whether the then-Trump campaign in 2016 colluded with Russia to meddle with the election outcome.
It found that the Department of Justice and the FBI 'failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law' when launching the Trump-Russia probe.
It also contained new information about the FBI's Clinton probes.
The report compared the FBI and Justice Department's voracious investigation of Trump's connections with Russia, to its allegedly lackluster approach to its Clinton probes 'tippy-toeing' around the former Secretary of State.
Durham reviewed a January 2016 report on the Clinton Foundation by the Little
