Report: The FBI Expands Investigation of Hillary Emails for Possible Public Corruption

The FBI is expanding its investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state, Fox News reported Monday morning.

According to the report, the FBI is looking into the possibility that Clinton violated public corruption laws by allowing her work at the State Department to overlap with her work at the non-profit Clinton Foundation. The new probe is in addition to the ongoing investigation into whether or not Clinton knowingly communicated classified information through her non-secure email server.

Hillary Clinton delivers a national security address at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Nov. 19, 2015. (Getty Images/Don Emmert/AFP)

"The agents are investigating the possible intersection of Clinton Foundation donations, the dispensation of State Department contracts and whether regular processes were followed," an anonymous FBI source told Fox News.

According to another source, the FBI has successfully prosecuted previous public corruption cases with "much less evidence" than what the FBI currently has on Clinton. The sources also revealed that the FBI has been investigating the public corruption track since as far back as April.

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Fox News is told that about 100 special agents assigned to the investigations also were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements, with as many as 50 additional agents on "temporary duty assignment," or TDY. The request to sign a new NDA could reflect that agents are handling the highly classified material in the emails, or serve as a reminder not to leak about the case, or both.

Separately, a former high-ranking State Department official emphasized to Fox News that Clinton’s deliberate non-use of her government email address may be increasingly "significant."

According to that State Department official, because everyone who works for State receives their government email address almost "automatically," Clinton's use of a private email was likely planned out prior to her appointment as the United States' top diplomat.

"It would have taken an affirmative act not to have [an email address assigned]," the official said, "and it would also mean it was all planned out before she took office. This certainly raises questions about the so-called legal advice she claimed to have received from inside the State Department that what she was doing was proper."

This development follows heavy scrutiny that Clinton faced last year, after it was revealed that she allowed her work at the State Department to overlap with her work at the Clinton Foundation.

In response to the new investigation, Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus said Monday that Clinton will now have to rethink putting her "eggs into one basket."

"The reported expansion of the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s secret email server to include public corruption is a very troubling development," Priebus said in a statement to TheBlaze. "The favoritism toward donors to Clinton’s family foundation from her own State Department is undeniable and Democrats must now be rethinking whether it was smart to put all of their eggs in one basket."

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