Credit where it’s due: investigative journalists John Solomon and Jerry Dunleavy at Just the News have just pulled the curtain back on one of the most brazen examples of political interference in law enforcement we’ve seen since the bad old days of J. Edgar Hoover’s private files. And, just like back then, the stakes were presidential.
Thanks to a newly declassified 2017 FBI memo—kept hidden until now—we have a play-by-play timeline of how the Obama-era Department of Justice and FBI brass ran interference for Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election, smothering a serious investigation into the Clinton Foundation while going full throttle on the Trump–Russia “Crossfire Hurricane” probe.
The memo lays out, in black and white, the internal orders to “shut it down.” That’s not my paraphrase. According to the memo, then–Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates literally told agents to stop pursuing the Clinton Foundation case—even as field offices in New York, Little Rock, and Washington believed they had enough to move forward.
Key Timeline Events
As documented by John Solomon and Jerry Dunleavy, Just the News:
- Feb. 2016 – DOJ signals to FBI that it “would not be supportive” of investigating the Clinton Foundation.
- Mid-Feb. 2016 – Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe orders that “no overt investigative steps” be taken without his personal approval.
- Spring–Summer 2016 – Agents in Little Rock move to a full investigation but are denied permission to collect even basic documents.
- June 2016 – Attorney General Loretta Lynch meets privately with Bill Clinton on the tarmac in Phoenix; both deny discussing the case.
- July 2016 – FBI Director James Comey announces “no reasonable prosecutor” would bring a case against Clinton, effectively ending the investigation in public view.
- Late Oct. 2016 – McCabe leaks details of the Clinton probe to The Wall Street Journal.
- Nov. 1, 2016 – McCabe recuses himself from the case, days before the election.
- Contrast – At the same time, the FBI opens “Crossfire Hurricane” against Trump in a matter of days based on minimal evidence.
- 2025 – AG Pam Bondi authorizes a strike force and grand jury to investigate possible criminal conspiracies tied to the 2016 suppression.
Meanwhile, over in the Trump camp, the bureau opened a full investigation within days based on the flimsy “Australia tip” about a bar conversation involving George Papadopoulos. The Durham Report later called it “immediate.” In other words, when it was Trump, they floored the accelerator. When it was Clinton, they yanked the emergency brake. (Read more: Larry O’Connor/Substack, 8/14/2025) (Archive)