FBI Releases Docs From 2001 Rich Investigation Days Before Election

WASHINGTON — (CNN) The FBI on Tuesday — one week from Election Day — released heavily redacted files from its 2001 investigation of President Bill Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich.

The release quickly drew complaints from Democrats who have assailed FBI Director James Comey for his decision last week to tell Congress the bureau was reviewing emails potentially related to Hillary Clinton’s private server.

The FBI’s public records Twitter feed drew some to conclude the documents were related to the Clintons’ charitable foundation, but the tweet was referring to Bill Clinton’s presidential library, which is governed by the William J. Clinton Foundation.

The bureau Tuesday posted 129 pages from its 2001 investigation of Rich, a former hedge-fund trader who had been indicted on multiple counts of tax evasion.

Bill Clinton pardoned Rich on his last day in office, one of his most controversial decisions as president.

“Absent a (Freedom of Information Act) litigation deadline, this is odd. Will FBI be posting docs on Trump’s housing discrimination in ’70s?” tweeted Brian Fallon, a spokesman for Clinton’s campaign.

The FBI closed its investigation of Clinton’s pardon for Rich in 2005 and no charges were filed against the former president.

An FBI official said Tuesday’s release is about policy, not politics, saying topics of general interest in FOIA requests automatically go to the FBI’s vault when they’re ready for public consumption. Holding them for release later would require overt action.

The release was posted on Twitter by @FBIRecordsVault, an account that posts material from FOIA requests on subjects of public interest.

The account has recently released documents related to Donald Trump’s father, Fred Trump, and the report on Hillary Clinton’s email use at the State Department.

It’s not clear that the eight pages of documents about Fred Trump were related to accusations of housing discrimination.

Prior to Sunday, however, the account hadn’t tweeted since October 2015.

Comey, a Republican, has come under criticism from both Democrats and Republicans during the presidential campaign.

Republicans ripped him over the summer when he recommended the Justice Department not pursue criminal charges over Clinton’s use of a private server, a decision he announced in the days after Attorney General Loretta Lynch met with President Clinton on a tarmac in Phoenix.

Comey, who was once a registered Republican, has also come under fire in the last week for his donations to the 2008 and 2012 Republican nominees, John McCain and Mitt Romney.

Previously, Comey had enjoyed broad bipartisan support throughout his career. In 2001, he was nominated to be the federal prosecutor for Manhattan by President George W. Bush and was backed by Sen. Chuck Schumer, who is currently in line to become the Senate’s top Democrat after the election.

Comey’s pursuit of Rich while he was a fugitive living in Switzerland was cited in media reports from 2001 as part of his record which ultimately led to the high-profile job as New York City’s top federal prosecutor.