FBI's Comey agreed to mute two other Clinton, Trump investigations until after election

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last updated 2 November 2016

FBI Director James Comey's decision to disregard warnings from Justice Department officials and longstanding department protocol to inform Congress that newly discovered emails may be relevant to the Hillary Clinton private email investigation has legal experts and lawmakers in both parties scratching their heads. It is especially puzzling, The New York Times reports, because over the summer, Comey agreed to hold off on issuing subpoenas or taking other steps that would publicize two other preliminary investigations: one into the Clinton Foundation, the other into the Russian-Ukrainian business dealings of Donald Trump's then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

These investigations, neither of which is public, were put on hold until after the election so as not to be seen as interfering in the presidential race, The Times reports, citing federal law enforcement officials. In August, right before Manafort was ousted from the campaign, Ukrainian anti-corruption officials and news reports linked Manafort to secret payments from ousted pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych and alleged that Manafort had lobbied on Ukraine's behalf in Washington without registering as foreign agents.

The Clinton Foundation inquiry "had not developed much evidence and was based mostly on information that had surfaced in news stories and the book Clinton Cash," The Times reports, citing "several law enforcement officials briefed on the case." Hillary Clinton has strongly denied any of the pay-to-play allegations in the Clinton Cash book and Manafort told The Times in an email that reports of an FBI investigation into his business are just "an outrageous smear" from Democrats.

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Daniel Richman, a Comey adviser and Columbia law professor, said that Comey's decision to inform Congress will actually help the next president, because "if the FBI director doesn't have the credibility to keep Congress from interfering in the bureau's work and to assure Congress that a matter has been or is being looked into, the new administration will pay a high price." At The New Republic, Brian Beutler suggests that Richman really means Republicans in Congress, as "Comey understood that there'd be hell to pay on Capitol Hill if he withheld the letter... because Republicans control the oversight apparatus and the subpoena power that comes with it." As Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) told CNN, "I don't think the American people have a clue as to how hard the Republicans, particularly on my committee, have been on the FBI."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.