By Newly released records obtained by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, allege that senior officials during the Obama administration repeatedly intervened to limit or derail FBI and Justice Department investigations into the Clinton Foundation, effectively insulating Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign.
The documents—internal emails, investigative timelines, and whistleblower disclosures—were released Monday following a July 2025 oversight request by Grassley and cooperation from current Attorney General Pamela Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel. Grassley said the materials show “yearslong efforts by top Obama-era officials to obstruct investigations” into potential pay-to-play activity linked to the foundation.
“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.”
According to the records, FBI headquarters in July 2016 instructed field offices to avoid subpoenas, interviews, or information-sharing related to the Clinton Foundation, citing “sensitivities” and concerns about the appearance of investigating the Clintons during the election season. The directive came just months before voters went to the polls.
The documents further indicate that in November 2016, under then–FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, headquarters blocked investigators assigned to the Clinton Foundation probe from accessing potentially relevant evidence found on a laptop belonging to former Rep. Anthony Weiner. The device surfaced during an unrelated investigation involving Weiner’s wife, Huma Abedin, a close aide to Hillary Clinton. Rather than allowing foundation investigators access, the material was routed to the team handling Clinton’s separate email inquiry.
McCabe’s role drew heightened scrutiny because of campaign contributions to his wife’s state senate run from entities connected to longtime Clinton ally Terry McAuliffe. McCabe later recused himself from Clinton-related matters just days before the 2016 election.
When the Clinton Foundation probe briefly resumed under the Trump administration in 2017, prosecutors in the Eastern District of Arkansas reportedly received incomplete investigative timelines from DOJ officials who remained from the prior administration. Those materials omitted references to earlier leadership interference, according to the records. Subsequent requests for clarification in 2018 went unanswered, with one prosecutor citing apparent conflicts of interest at Main Justice that eroded confidence in the process.
The records also reveal concerns among field prosecutors about relying on the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section, given its involvement in the 2016 Clinton investigations and perceived institutional resistance to reopening sensitive matters.
Grassley praised Bondi and Patel for releasing the materials, saying their cooperation has allowed “the American people finally know how their Justice Department failed in the Clinton investigations.”
In a follow-up letter dated December 15, Grassley requested additional documents by December 29, including reports related to the Weiner laptop review, search warrant records, and unredacted emails involving McCabe, prosecutors Cody Hiland and Jonathan Ross, and former DOJ officials Ray Hulser and Anna Lou Tirol.
No charges were ever filed against the Clinton Foundation, which has consistently denied wrongdoing. Still, Grassley said the newly disclosed records raise unresolved questions about whether political considerations under President Barack Obama’s administration shaped federal law enforcement decisions at a critical moment in the 2016 race.
The document release comes amid broader congressional scrutiny of how the DOJ and FBI handled politically sensitive investigations in recent years to benefit Democratic campaigns. Earlier in the year it was revealed that Obama and his national security team manipulated the narrative around Russia’s role in the 2016 election—claims that went far beyond longstanding disputes over the origins of the FBI’s Russia probe. According to a July 2025 report, a disclosed internal CIA reviews showed that the 2016 intelligence community assessment on Russian interference was rushed and influenced by senior leaders at the end of Obama’s tenure who hoped it would kill the Trump campaign and undermined his first term in office.
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