{"id":2510414,"date":"2025-11-13T23:09:01","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T04:09:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ex-doj-officials-shut-down-fbi-agents-clinton-campaign-inquiry-emails-show\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T23:12:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T04:12:06","slug":"ex-doj-officials-shut-down-fbi-agents-clinton-campaign-inquiry-emails-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ex-doj-officials-shut-down-fbi-agents-clinton-campaign-inquiry-emails-show\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-DOJ officials shut down FBI agent&#8217;s Clinton campaign inquiry, emails show"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fex-doj-officials-shut-down-fbi-agents-clinton-campaign-inquiry-emails-show%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2510414&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Newly released internal emails from teh FBI and Justice Department reveal that in 2019,two senior DOJ prosecutors,Richard Pilger and J.P. Cooney, discouraged an FBI agent from investigating whether Hillary Clinton&#8217;s 2016 campaign and the Democratic National Committee improperly concealed payments that funded the Steele dossier. These communications, obtained by Senator Chuck Grassley through whistleblowers, show efforts to block even a preliminary inquiry into allegations that the Clinton campaign mislabeled payments for opposition research as legal services. The payments originated from contracts involving the Clinton campaign&#8217;s law firm Perkins Coie and research firm Fusion GPS. Despite evidence and a related federal Election Commission fine in 2022, the DOJ officials advised against pursuing the case, citing ambiguity and challenging proof of willfulness. Grassley criticized the DOJ&#8217;s handling of the matter, contrasting it with more aggressive investigations targeting Trump-related cases. The released documents also highlight political tensions within the DOJ&#8217;s election-crimes unit and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dem-lawmakers-threaten-facebook-to-keep-censorship\/\" title=\"Dem Lawmakers Threaten Facebook to Keep Censorship\">ongoing oversight efforts<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Ex-DOJ officials shut down FBI agent&rsquo;s questions about Clinton campaign allegations, emails show<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2398744\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Newly released internal <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/fbi\/\">FBI<\/a> and <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/department-of-justice\/\">Justice Department<\/a> emails show two senior career prosecutors in&nbsp;2019, during the&nbsp;first <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/trump-administration\/\">Trump administration<\/a>, repeatedly discouraged an FBI agent from opening a criminal investigation into whether <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/hillary-clinton\/\">Hillary Clinton&rsquo;s<\/a> 2016 campaign and the Democratic National Committee improperly concealed payments that funded the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/steele-dossier\/\">Steele dossier<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The records were made public Thursday by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/chuck-grassley\/\">Chuck Grassley<\/a> (R-IA) and include an FBI Electronic Communication dated July 2019 and email exchanges from June 5&ndash;21, 2019, involving Richard Pilger, then head of the DOJ Public Integrity Section&rsquo;s election-crimes unit, and J.P. Cooney, who at the time served as chief of public corruption at the U.S. Attorney&rsquo;s Office for the District of Columbia. Together, Pilger and Cooney advised against opening any investigation, according to their communications.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3886737\/america-first-legal-byron-donalds-census-bureau-lawsuit\/\">America First Legal adds Byron Donalds as plaintiff in US Census Bureau lawsuit&nbsp;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3886241\/doj-searching-suspect-attacked-alina-habba-office-pam-bondi\/\">DOJ searching for suspect who attacked Alina Habba&#8217;s office, Bondi says<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3886117\/doj-urges-judge-not-toss-comey-letitia-james-cases-paperwork-error-lindsey-halligan\/\">DOJ urges judge not to toss Comey and James cases over &#8216;paperwork error&#8217;<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>The emails show Pilger and Cooney repeatedly shutting down the agent&rsquo;s questions about why the DOJ was not willing to investigate <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2022\/03\/30\/politics\/clinton-dnc-steele-dossier-fusion-gps\">well-documented allegations<\/a> that the Clinton campaign falsely reported payments for opposition research as generic &ldquo;legal services.&rdquo; Grassley <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.judiciary.senate.gov\/press\/rep\/releases\/grassley-fbi-records-show-partisan-officials-killed-clinton-campaign-investigation\">said he obtained the latest information through<\/a> the help of &ldquo;courageous whistleblowers [who] came to my office years ago to sound the alarm that the Justice Department inappropriately interfered in efforts to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/grassley-doj-partisans-killed-probe-into-clinton-dnc\/\" title=\"...: DOJ Partisans Killed Probe Into Clinton, DNC\">investigate potential criminal activity committed<\/a> by Hillary Clinton and her campaign.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>    <iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"scribd_iframe_embed\" title=\"FBI Electronic Communication - Clinton Campaign\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/embeds\/948523616\/content?start_page=1&amp;view_mode=scroll&amp;access_key=key-m8zX1xeROiqMKyeGqsYJ\" tabindex=\"0\" data-auto-height=\"true\" data-aspect-ratio=\"0.7729220222793488\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe> <\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 12px auto 6px auto; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; display: block;\"> <a title=\"View FBI Electronic Communication - Clinton Campaign on Scribd\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/948523616\/FBI-Electronic-Communication-Clinton-Campaign#from_embed\" style=\"color: #098642; text-decoration: underline;\">  FBI Electronic Communication &ndash; Clinton Campaign <\/a> by <a title=\"View reportoftheday's profile on Scribd\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/user\/697301857\/reportoftheday#from_embed\" style=\"color: #098642; text-decoration: underline;\"> reportoftheday <\/a> <\/p>\n<p>The payments in question originated in 2016, when the Clinton campaign hired the law firm Perkins Coie, where <span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\"><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/658204\/lawyer-marc-elias-takes-center-stage-in-durham-trial\/\">Marc Elias, then-attorney<\/a>&nbsp;of the Clinton campaign,<\/span> worked, to handle election-related legal matters. Perkins Coie later contracted with Fusion GPS to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fec-rules-in-favor-of-dnc-operative-in-ukraine-collusion-investigation\/\" title=\"FEC Rules in Favor of DNC Operative in Ukraine Collusion ...\">conduct opposition research<\/a> during the presidential race, and in mid-2016, Fusion GPS retained former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele to produce a series of memos alleging ties between then-first-term candidate Donald Trump and Russia.<\/p>\n<p>In the 2019 emails released by Grassley, the FBI agent pressed Pilger and Cooney on why the Department of Justice would not authorize even a preliminary inquiry into what the agent called &ldquo;unambiguous concealment&rdquo; by the Clinton campaign and DNC, as by that point there had already been a <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/campaignlegal.org\/press-releases\/hillary-america-dnc-failed-disclose-legally-required-information-about-funding-trump\">complaint lobbed<\/a> for failure to <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >disclose legally required funding information<\/a> since 2017. The <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/federal-election-commission\/\">Federal Election Commission<\/a> later fined both entities in March 2022 after determining that the DNC paid $849,407. The Clinton campaign paid $175,000 to Perkins Coie for what a complaint said was Fusion GPS&rsquo;s opposition research, even though the Clinton campaign reported the payments as &ldquo;legal services&rdquo; and the DNC described most of them as &ldquo;legal and compliance consulting.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The agent complained that Pilger&rsquo;s &ldquo;confrontational and condescending&rdquo; tone would discourage most agents from raising questions, writing that the &ldquo;chilling effect is shocking.&rdquo; Pilger at one point accused the agent of &ldquo;creating Jencks material&rdquo; and suggested the agent could be exposed to cross-examination for supposed bias, comments the agent interpreted as a veiled warning to stop pursuing the matter.<\/p>\n<p>Cooney told the agent the case was not a &ldquo;good candidate&rdquo; for a false-reporting investigation and argued that describing the payments as &ldquo;legal services&rdquo; or &ldquo;consulting&rdquo; created too much ambiguity to prove willfulness. No investigation was opened.<\/p>\n<p>Cooney later rose to a senior post in former Attorney General Merrick Garland&rsquo;s DOJ under the Biden administration as deputy to special counsel <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3868459\/bidens-watergate-jack-smith-sought-197-subpoenas-in-arctic-frost-investigation\/\">Jack Smith<\/a> until he left the DOJ in January this year. Smith went on to bring two prosecutions against then-candidate Trump before he won the 2024 election, both of which ended without reaching trial.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Special counsel Jack Smith delivers remarks on a recently unsealed indictment, including four felony counts against former President Donald Trump, on Aug. 1, 2023, in Washington. (Drew Angerer\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Pilger, for his part, was also pivotal in reviewing and approving the opening of the FBI&rsquo;s sweeping Arctic Frost operation, which ultimately led to a <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3868459\/bidens-watergate-jack-smith-sought-197-subpoenas-in-arctic-frost-investigation\/\">comprehensive investigation <\/a>targeting Trump-aligned individuals and organizations, as revealed in recent weeks by whistleblowers and declassified records provided to Grassley. He continued <span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">to oversee investigations of federal corr<\/span>uption offenses within the DOJ&rsquo;s Public Integrity Section until he left the department in August 2022, four months after former FBI agent&nbsp;Timothy Thibault&nbsp;initiated the Arctic Frost investigation.<\/p>\n<p>Grassley argued in a statement that the records show &ldquo;the same partisans who rushed to cover for Clinton rabidly pursued Arctic Frost, which was a runaway train aimed directly at President Trump and the Republican political apparatus.&rdquo; He thanked Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel for &ldquo;efforts to turn over the information I requested, and I&rsquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/senators-slam-facebook-for-adverse-effect-on-teens\/\" title=\"Senators Slam Facebook for Adverse Effect on Teens\">ll continue investigating<\/a> this matter.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Despite the pushback against investigating the alleged false reporting, prosecutors have pursued other high-profile false-records cases, including the Manhattan district attorney&rsquo;s <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3877769\/appeals-court-gives-trump-second-chance-to-dismiss-hush-money-conviction\/\">conviction of Trump<\/a> over narrow bookkeeping entries while he was running for reelection last year. Similar conduct arising out of the 2016 political environment also received less scrutiny. <\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/senate\/3882857\/gop-senators-jack-smith-arctic-frost-compensation-legal-fees-funding-bill\/\">FUNDING BILL OPENS THE DOOR TO COMPENSATE GOP SENATORS WHO SUE OVER &lsquo;ARCTIC FROST&rsquo;<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Another Perkins Coie lawyer, Michael Sussmann, brought up claims about Trump-Russia ties to the FBI in September 2016 while denying he was doing so on behalf of political clients, yet he was only investigated three years later, after then-Attorney General Bill Barr appointed special counsel <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/john-durham\">John Durham<\/a> in 2019 to review the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation. Durham indicted Sussmann in 2021 for allegedly lying about that meeting, though a Washington, D.C., <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/76426\/fbi-agent-at-sussmann-trial-says-he-rejected-alfa-bank-claims-within-days\/\">jury acquitted him<\/a> in May 2022.<\/p>\n<p>In a <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.grassley.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/grassley_to_doj_fbi_-_pilger-cooney_emails.pdf\">follow-up letter<\/a> to the DOJ, Grassley requested that Bondi and Patel turn over all remaining records related to the matter by Nov. 27.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ex-DOJ officials blocked FBI probe into Clinton campaign payments<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2633,"featured_media":2510415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AP25267667875076.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[67071,7076,50645,3976],"class_list":["post-2510414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-clinton-campaign","tag-doj","tag-fbi-2","tag-investigation"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AP25267667875076.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2510414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2633"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2510414"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2510414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2510418,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2510414\/revisions\/2510418"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2510415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2510414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2510414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2510414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}