CNN dropped a bombshell report on Wednesday as Americans are voting in more than 40 states.
“For more than three years, federal prosecutors investigated whether money flowing through an Egyptian state-owned bank could have backed millions of dollars Donald Trump donated to his own campaign days before he won the 2016 election,” CNN reported, based on “multiple sources familiar with the investigation.”
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“The investigation, which both predated and outlasted special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, examined whether there was an illegal foreign campaign contribution. It represents one of the most prolonged efforts by federal investigators to understand the President’s foreign financial ties, and became a significant but hidden part of the special counsel’s pursuits,” CNN reported. “The investigation was kept so secret that at one point investigators locked down an entire floor of a federal courthouse in Washington, DC, so Mueller’s team could fight for the Egyptian bank’s records in closed-door court proceedings following a grand jury subpoena. The probe, which closed this summer with no charges filed, has never before been described publicly.”
“It’s not clear that investigators ever had concrete evidence of a relevant bank transfer from the Egyptian bank. But multiple sources said there was sufficient information to justify the subpoena and keep the criminal campaign finance investigation open after the Mueller probe ended,” CNN reported.
Bill Barr’s Department of Justice confirmed the probe.
“The case was first looked at by the Special Counsel investigators who failed to bring a case, and then it was looked at by the US attorney’s office, and career prosecutors in the national security section, who also were unable to bring a case. Based upon the recommendations of both the FBI and those career prosecutors, Michael Sherwin, the acting US attorney, formally closed the case in July,” a senior DOJ official told CNN.
This story from @evanperez @jeremyherb and me comes after 2 years of following breadcrumbs in documents, countless hours of #CNNStakeout, source reporting—from when we first noticed a mystery case in DC District Court related to the Mueller investigation
— Katelyn Polantz (@kpolantz) October 14, 2020
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The prolonged mystery Mueller grand jury subpoena fight (that went to SCOTUS before they denied cert!) related to this investigation.
Mueller, then the DC USAO were seeking records from a state-owned Egyptian bank. Ultimately, it was a dead end.— Katelyn Polantz (@kpolantz) October 14, 2020
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Mueller handed the investigation off to the DC US Attorney’s Office, calling it a “foreign campaign contribution” investigation in his list of transferred cases.
The Mueller report doesn’t describe it with any more detail.— Katelyn Polantz (@kpolantz) October 14, 2020
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