Conservatives have been trying to nail Bill and Hillary Clinton’s collective hides to the barn door for a generation—make that two. Time flies whether or not you’re having fun, and for the Clintons, “fun” means staying one step ahead of the GOP.
Just when the opposition looked ready to catch them red-handed, quicker than you can say “Rose Law Firm,” they’d pull a rabbit out of the hat—or the more feckless, easily distracted Republicans would chase a rabbit trail instead.
In the end, you came to expect that the Clintons—slick, greasy operators to the last—would wriggle free. And so it went.
But maybe, just maybe, in this new golden era, times have changed.
Hope springs eternal.
And no, I’m not talking about either Hope or Hot Springs, Arkansas, where Bill hails from—despite his revisionist geography.
Back in the day, Hot Springs had a tawdry streak—little wonder Bill turned out as he did.
On Wednesday, news broke of a newly declassified FBI timeline into the “investigation”—if you can call it that—of the Clinton Foundation, the charitable wing of Clinton, Inc.
John Solomon and Jerry Dunleavy of Just the News rolled it out, and it’s a genuine eye-opener.
The Foundation, like its principals, has always been too slick by half, but the real revelation is how hard the Obama-era powers-that-were worked to keep the Clinton cats—one a feral tom, the other a diva on a velvet pillow—stuffed in the bag.
The FBI’s own “Clinton Foundation Meeting Timeline” reads like a parody of Perry Mason.
Five minutes before the end of the show, you always knew Hamilton Burger’s airtight case would suddenly collapse, and Raymond Burr would stroll out of the courtroom with that sly, knowing grin.
In this real-life version, the Hamilton Burgers and Lieutenant Traggs at the FBI never even made it to the five-minute mark.
The rug was yanked from under them again and again—hunting big game while the Obama administration seemed determined to trip them before they could even take aim.
The timeline documents a federal investigation into one of America’s most politically connected “charities,” repeatedly slow-walked, road-blocked, and—at a key moment—allegedly ordered to “shut it down” by the Deputy Attorney General herself.
Zounds! Who could have possibly seen that coming—aside from anyone with a pulse and a passing familiarity with the Clintons, and now, increasingly, with the Obama administration’s role in protecting them?
Here’s the quick run-down: As early as February 2016, Main Justice told the FBI flat out it would “not be supportive” of a Clinton Foundation investigation.
Then the Bureau’s Deputy Director, Andrew McCabe—yes, that McCabe—laid down his own rule: no overt investigative steps without his personal say-so.
In Washington-speak, that’s doubling down on killing the probe in its crib. Before anything could be done, agents had to trek to the corner office at the Hoover Building and secure the Deputy Director’s blessing. Understood?
Not everyone took the hint.
About a month later came the hammer blow. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates allegedly issued the order: “shut it down.” Not “slow it down” or “rethink the scope.” Shut. It. Down.
Yet some of the rank and file kept at it. Hardy souls.
By August 2016, both the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York—the very turf where the Foundation was headquartered—told the FBI they would not support the investigation.
Translation: the same prosecutors who’d be responsible for taking this case to court and pressing charges told the investigators to get lost.
Post-election, Justice Department brass began floating a new excuse: statute of limitations. Translation: Mission Accomplished—they’d run out the clock.
Now contrast that with Obamaland’s posture toward the Trump-Russia “Crossfire Hurricane” probe.
That investigation was launched at the speed of gossip and pursued with the urgency of a Black Friday sale.
No pauses for election-year sensitivities or presidential transition niceties. No handwringing over the provenance of the Steele dossier.
The citizens of this republic—and President Trump himself—have every right to question the dichotomy: when the target was Trump, leadership charged ahead at warp speed; when it was the Clintons, it was slow motion, stonewalls, and—then poof—the statute of limitations rabbit magically appeared out of the government’s hat.
This story cannot—and should not—end here. While the statute of limitations may block prosecution for the original acts, new evidence can surface, new crimes can be committed, and there may yet be the appetite at Justice to see things through finally.
Which is why, perhaps, the pucker factor at Château du Clinton in Chappaqua is tighter now than it’s been in years.
Indeed, hope springs eternal.
Charlton Allen is an attorney and former chief executive officer and chief judicial officer of the North Carolina Industrial Commission. He is founder of the Madison Center for Law & Liberty, Inc., editor of The American Salient, and host of the Modern Federalist podcast. For media inquiries or speaking engagements, please click here. X: @CharltonAllenNC
Image from Grok.