Sunday, January 12, 2020

The Justice Department investigation into Trump's claims of Hillary Clinton's corruption is reportedly over, and found nothing

REPEAT OFTEN "DOJ CLINTON INVESTIGATION FOUND NOTHING"

Paulina Cachero Jan 10, 2020

Hillary Clinton, then US Secretary of State, meets Russian
 President Vladimir Putin at a summit in 2012. 
REUTERS/Mikhail Metzel

An investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) into alleged corruption by Hillary Clinton has effectively ended with no results, according to The Washington Post.

The claims, often repeated by President Donald Trump and his allies, related to Clinton's conduct as Secretary of State, and also to the Clinton Foundation nonprofit.

Despite more than two years of effort, the investigation failed to substantiate the underlying claims, the Post report.

Although the probe's work is said to be over, the DOJ has yet to formally end it.

A yearslong Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into claims of corruption by Hillary Clinton is over, and found nothing, according to The Washington Post.

The probe failed to substantiate a collection of allegations, made repeatedly by President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans, the Post reported.

Their claims relate to Clinton's behaviour as Secretary of State and her involvements in the nonprofit Clinton Foundation, subjects to which Trump has returned often, and devoted considerable effort to pursuing.

However, after more than two years, the probe set in motion by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions in November 2017 found "no tangible results," the Post said.

It reported that the work of the investigation is over, although the DOJ has not formally closed it.
—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 3, 2017

The probe was launched after Trump and fellow Republicans claimed the FBI had not "fully pursued" corruption at the Clinton Foundation.

In particular, they complained of insufficient scrutiny of the sale of a company called Uranium One, which the US government allowed to take place during Clinton's tenure as Barack Obama's Secretary of State.

They accused the Obama administration of allowing Uranium One, which had mining interests in the US, to be sold to a Russian company because of donations made to the Clinton Foundation.

The probe, led by US attorney John Huber, also looked at Clinton's use of a private email server while Secretary of State.
Hillary Clinton in 2014 with her family — husband Bill Clinton,
 their daughter Chelsea, her husband Marc Mezvinsky, 
and their daughter Charlotte, then a newborn. AP

According to the Post, Huber essentially finished his report by early 2019, having found "nothing worth pursuing."

The Post cited anonymous sources who said that nobody involved in the probe really expected to find anything.

But, the Post reported, Trump officials tried to keep it alive longer. It said Matthew Whitaker, in his time as Acting Attorney General, tried to push for a more "aggressive" approach.

This too appears to have produced no results.

The Justice Department declined to comment on Huber's investigation when asked by the Post.

Fox News anchor Shep Smith annihilates his network's favorite Hillary Clinton 'scandal,' the Uranium One deal
Eliza Relman
Nov 15, 2017, 7:59 AM

Fox News anchor Shep Smith tore apart the allegations
 behind the Uranium One "scandal." Screenshot/Fox News

The Fox News anchor Shepard Smith discredited the Uranium One "scandal," a theory his network has promoted about Hillary Clinton.
Republicans have aggressively promoted the unsubstantiated theory and pushed for a special counsel to investigate the claims.
Fox News viewers attacked Smith, suggesting he should work for another network.


The Fox News anchor Shepard Smith discredited an unsubstantiated theory that his network and other conservative media outlets and Republican politicians have aggressively promoted as Hillary Clinton's Uranium One "scandal."


During Tuesday night's broadcast, Smith succinctly debunked Republicans' claims that the Obama administration and the Clinton-led State Department approved a deal allowing a Russian company to buy a Canadian company with mining interests in the US in exchange for donations to the Clinton Foundation.

Smith's report came as Republican calls for a special counsel to investigate the deal are mounting. President Donald Trump has called the issue "Watergate, modern-age," and his surrogates and supporters say it amounts to the "real Russia scandal." Smith played a clip of Trump making the allegations — which were first promoted by a Breitbart News editor named Peter Schweizer — on the campaign trail in 2016 and then called Trump's statement "inaccurate in a number of ways."

Smith pointed out that the Uranium One deal was unanimously approved by representatives of nine government agencies, just one of which was the Clinton-led State Department. And there is no proof that Clinton personally approved the deal, as one of her deputies officially signed off on it.

"The accusation is predicated on the charge that Secretary Clinton approved the sale. She did not," Smith said. "A committee of nine evaluated the sale, the president approved the sale, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and others had to offer permits, and none of the uranium was exported for use by the US to Russia."

Smith's segment was met with harsh criticism from many Fox News viewers who suggested he should leave the network for CNN or MSNBC.

"The worst part of a relaxing day is when Shepherd Smith starts talking. He is a smartass that needs to be on CNN. @FoxNews," one viewer, Jana Jo, tweeted.

Shep Smith just took apart the Uranium One conspiracy theory in what amounts to a methodical annihilation of his own network's coverage of the story. pic.twitter.com/D439QyIBWU— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) November 14, 2017

SEE ALSO: Mueller's charges have Republicans freaking out over a report tying Hillary Clinton to a Russian uranium deal

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