FBI stopped female Russian spy after approaching Hillary Clinton, records show

Hillary Clinton as the US secretary of state (file photo)

Newly released FBI records allegedly show that former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was approached by a female Russian spy to win access to her right after she started the job under former President Barack Obama.

Multiple intelligence arms, some illegal, were unleashed to influence her and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, the Hill reported Sunday, citing the once-sealed records.

Posing as an American accountant with a false identity, the spy initially made her way into the employ of a major Democratic donor.

Former US President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary 

“There is not one shred of doubt from the evidence that we had that the Russians had set their sights on Hillary Clinton’s circle, because she was the quarterback of the Obama-Russian reset strategy and the assumed successor to Obama as president,” said a source familiar with the investigation on condition of anonymity.

Moreover, an October 2009 communication intercepted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation allegedly exposed Russian handlers instructing two of their spies to gather non-public information about the US State Department.

“Send more info on current international affairs vital for R., highlight US approach,” read part of the message, using the country’s first initial to refer to Russia. “Try to single out tidbits unknown publicly but revealed in private by sources closer to State department, government, major think tanks.”

Other measures, this time legal, were made for the same purpose, including hiring a Washington firm to lobby the Obama administration, the FBI agents further claimed.

Russia’s state-controlled nuclear energy company also had the firm provide hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for Bill Clinton’s global charitable initiative.

Apart from that, the firm helped with the legal challenges the company could potentially face in the United States.

Bill Clinton reportedly received a $500,000 check from a Kremlin-linked bank for single speech, raising a red flag in the summer of 2010.

The payment was made just after his wife helped American executives visit Moscow to support an initiative to build a Russian version of the Silicon Valley.

“In the end, some of this just comes down to what it always does in Washington: donations, lobbying, contracts and influence — even for Russia,” said Frank Figliuzzi, the former FBI assistant director for counter-intelligence.

The records were released at a time that an investigation was going on over alleged ties between the Kremlin and the associates of US President Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election and transition.

This AFP file photo taken on October 9, 2016 shows Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaking as Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton walks past during the second presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Former US President Jimmy Carter said in a recent interview that, Hillary who ran against Trump for the 2016 election, lost the vote not because of some Russian intelligence activities.

“I don’t think there’s any evidence that what the Russians did changed enough votes, or any votes," Carter told The New York Times in an interview published on Saturday, asserting that his wife, Rosalynn Carter, thinks otherwise.

“Rosie and I have a difference of opinion on that,” he said, while she stated that “They [the Russians] obviously did [it].”

The couple added that they voted for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders rather than Hillary in the Democratic primary election.

The former president also commented about the war between Trump and the media.

“I think the media have been harder on Trump than any other president certainly that I’ve known about,” Carter said.

In a declassified report released in January, the intelligence community concluded that Russia helped with the New York billionaire’s campaign effort ahead of winning the White House, an allegation dismissed both by Moscow and Trump.

Trump is now being accused of obstructing justice in the investigation process, in part by dismissing the FBI director at the helm of the probe.