Long before Donald Trump campaigned against Hillary Clinton with his “lock her up” catchphrase, the Clintons seemed a magnet for controversy and even potential criminal activity. They were never convicted of anything, leading many to believe that all these allegations regarding the Clintons were just a kind of political smear.
However, the Durham report opened the eyes of many people. This report outlines the special treatment the Clintons received at the hands of the FBI, and this treatment may very well have been enough to keep these career politicians out of jail.
What did the report say, and what does it tell us about what the Clintons have done behind closed doors? Keep reading to find out!
A history of controversy
Allegations of criminal and controversial activity have followed the Clintons for nearly half a century. Stretching back to the late 1970s and early 1980s, they were both accused of being part of a major Whitewater real estate scandal back when Bill was serving as the governor of Arkansas.
As Vox reports, the Clintons bought 230 acres of land in order to sell lots for vacation homes. Real estate mogul Jim McDougal helped arrange it so that the Clintons didn’t have to pay anything upfront but could still earn profits. That was the idea, at least…nobody actually wanted to live there, and this real estate venture completely fell through.
Afterward, McDougal purchased a savings and loan association and defrauded it, earning himself a cool $3 million. While the Clintons’ involvement in this fraud was never proven, Capital Management Services’ ex-president claimed Bill Clinton pressured him “to issue a fraudulent $300,000 loan to Susan McDougal” and further claimed this money was used to recoup some of the financial losses of Whitewater.
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Things get uglier in the White House and beyond
Eventually, Bill Clinton was elected as President of the United States. Scandals once again followed the Clintons, this time all the way into the White House. In addition to the well-known controversy regarding Monica Lewinsky, the Clintons were accused of illegally firing certain White House employees and replacing them with family friends.
Additionally, the two were accused of snagging FBI files on their political opponents so they’d have all the dirt they needed for future elections and squabbles. Once again, the Clintons weren’t charged with anything, but the allegations surrounding them were stacking up enough to make many people very suspicious.
Criminal investigations into the Clintons were shut down by the FBI
After Hillary Clinton’s failed presidential bid, most people thought we wouldn’t be hearing much more about the Clintons’ alleged criminal activities. However, with the release of the Durham report, the public discovered just how ugly the Clintons’ activities had gotten. And more alarmingly, the FBI itself may have conspired to help the Clintons out of some potential legal jams.
As reported by AP News, this is a report from John Durham, special counsel to the Justice Department. Durham’s primary goal was to look into Donald Trump’s alleged connections to Russia that many thought helped get him elected. Along the way, though, Durham uncovered incidents that he felt amounted to the Clintons getting special treatment from the FBI.
For example, the FBI only made preliminary investigations into the Clintons over allegations they had received money from foreign governments. However, the organization immediately pounced on investigating Trump, and this was seemingly politically motivated. Durham uncovered texts between former FBI employees Peter Strzok and Lisa Page in which they seemed hesitant to investigate the Clintons because “[Hillary] may be our next president.”
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The FBI corruption runs even deeper
One of the more damning things that Durham discovered about the Clintons is that the FBI obtained evidence from a reliable source that a foreign government planned to donate significant funds to Hillary Clinton’s upcoming presidential campaign. As reported by The New York Sun, the goal of this was “to gain influence with Clinton should she win the presidency.”
This was a serious allegation, and at first, the FBI began looking closely into the matter. But Durham would later report that unnamed FBI officials did their best to make sure the case remained “in limbo” because, once again, they feared potential reprisals from Hillary Clinton in case she became president.
Future Clinton investigations seem increasingly unlikely
After the release of the Durham Report, many felt it would only be appropriate for the FBI to re-open some (perhaps even most) of the investigations into the Clintons that they had previously quashed. However, the odds of that happening seem increasingly unlikely.
While Republican congressman Matt Gaetz has been calling to re-open investigations into the Clintons, and while he is backed up by former congressman and House Oversight Committee chairman Jason Chaffetz, there hasn’t been any indication that the FBI will take action. And since we are heading into another contentious election year in which these investigations could be seen as a form of election interference, it doesn’t look like the Clintons will be properly investigated anytime soon (if ever).
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