The FBI asked the Justice Department earlier this year to investigate the Clinton Foundation, but the department declined, according to a report on CNN.com.
The FBI request is mentioned about 20 paragraphs into the CNN report on recently released emails from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. It was reported on by The Daily Caller.
According to CNN, the Justice Department's public integrity unit turned down the FBI's request because it had looked at opening a case on the foundation a year earlier but had not found enough evidence to proceed.
A batch of previously unreleased Clinton emails were made public Tuesday by the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch. They raised questions about ties between Clinton's State Department and the foundation run by her and her husband former President Bill Clinton.
The emails showed Clinton's State Department aides apparently trying to put foundation donors in contact with officials at the State Department.
The Daily Caller noted that the report could raise more questions on the impartiality of Attorney General Loretta Lynch's Justice Department. She already has come under fire for a private meeting with Bill Clinton just days before Hillary Clinton was questioned by the FBI over the email probe that looked into whether her use of a private server for official business might have compromised national security.
The Daily Caller also cited previous reports that Hillary Clinton is considering keeping Lynch as attorney general if she wins the presidency.
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