FBI described as 'Trumpland' as fallout over review of Hillary Clinton aide emails continues

There is reportedly a deep dislike of Hillary Clinton within the FBI, with the organisation being described as "Trumpland".

Current and former FBI officials have spoken anonymously to The Guardian about a dislike of Clinton within the organisation and outrage over a decision not to pursue the Democratic presidential candidate over her use of a private email server.

"The FBI is Trumpland," one current agent reportedly said, adding that Clinton was seen as the "antichrist personified" to many personnel.

But while other sources agree Clinton is viewed unfavourably, they dispute the depth of support for presidential rival Donald Trump.

"There are lots of people who don't think Trump is qualified, but also believe Clinton is corrupt. What you hear a lot is that it's a bad choice, between an incompetent and a corrupt politician," a former FBI official said.

FBI director James Comey has been taking heat this week over his decision to reveal the discovery of emails possibly connected to Ms Clinton's aide Huma Abedin, found during an investigation into her estranged husband Anthony Weiner sexting a 15-year-old girl.

FBI Director James Comey. Photo / AP

The timing of Comey's letter just 11 days before the election drew criticism from Democrats and some Republicans who cast it as unprecedented and potentially tipping the scales in the presidential race in favour of Republican Donald Trump.

Clinton's national lead over Trump eroded to three percentage points among likely voters in a New York Times/CBS News poll on Thursday, down from nine points just two weeks ago.

An average of polls compiled by the RealClearPolitics website also showed her lead at 1.7 percentage points on Thursday, well down from the solid advantage she had until late last month.

Longstanding Justice Department protocol discourages investigative actions in the run-up to an election that could be seen as affecting the electoral process.

That's why Justice Department officials disagreed with the decision by Comey to alert Congress last week to the discovery of new emails that he said might be connected to the investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server. That investigation ended in July without charges.

The latest emails were discovered during the FBI's sexting investigation of Weiner, the estranged husband of Huma Abedin, a close Hillary Clinton aide.

The FBI has obtained a warrant to begin the process of going through the newly found emails to see whether they were classified.

Comey has said he felt obligated to notify Congress in order to keep the public informed and because he had previously told politicians that the investigation had been completed.

But the decision has left Comey and the FBI open to accusations of bias, and has been further complicated by further leaks from FBI and Justice Department officials.

Days later the FBI also released an archive of documents from a long-closed investigation into Bill Clinton's 2001 presidential pardon of a fugitive financier, prompting questions from Clinton's presidential campaign about its timing.

In recent days there have also been reports of division in the FBI over whether organisation should pursue allegations the Clinton Foundation was trading donations in return for access to Clinton when she was secretary of state.

The allegations were detailed in a book Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich.

The Wall Street Journal reported that secret recordings of a suspect talking about the Clinton Foundation fuelled an internal dispute between FBI agents who wanted to pursue the case and prosecutors who considered the statements as worthless hearsay.

Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton stands with his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton during campaiging in 1992. Photo / AP

The Clinton Foundation is a non-profit corporation that raises funds for international projects to reduce poverty, improve health and other global needs.

Critics have also accused the Clinton family of using the foundation to enrich themselves and give donors special access to the State Department when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state.

According to Fox News, the FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation has become a "very high priority". Clinton and the foundation deny the allegations.

"There is an avalanche of new information coming in every day," one source told Fox News, who added some of the new information is coming from the WikiLeaks documents and new emails.

According to AP, FBI agents make a presentation to Justice Department lawyers in February about the allegations they wanted to pursue but were met with scepticism.

The lawyers did not direct the FBI to stop looking into the matter, but public-corruption prosecutors in Washington expressed disinterest in working with the FBI on the investigation based on the information that was presented to them at the briefing, two people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

The Daily Beast has also reported on pro-Trump figure Rudy Giuliani's connections with New York FBI agents, under the headline: "Meet Donald Trump's Top FBI Fanboy".

In the closing days of the race, there also has been speculation and contradictory reports about whether the FBI is investigating Donald Trump's possible connections with Russia.

The FBI reportedly also has looked into aides of Trump, including business ties in Ukraine of Paul Manafort, who resigned in August as Trump's campaign chairman following revelations that his firm had orchestrated a secret Ukrainian lobbying campaign in Washington.

The New York Times reported this week that the FBI had examined possible connections between the Trump campaign and the Russians, but had found nothing direct.