A SUB ROSA INVESTIGATIONA SUB ROSA INVESTIGATION
If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.
—Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince
Several weeks after the Oval Office meeting with Hillary, Valerie Jarrett invited an old friend to spend the night in the Lincoln bedroom. That evening, the friend joined Jarrett, the president, and the first lady in the family dining room.
“We ate on the new White House china service,” the friend recalled. “It had deep blue rings that Michelle said were inspired by the waters of Hawaii. She called it Kailua Blue. The family dining room is small by White House standards, and the dinner was pretty informal. No white table cloth. Red and white wine were offered and everybody had a few glasses except Michelle, who drank sparkling water. The president drank a California Chardonnay. The dinner was a roasted striped bass served with kale and sweet potatoes. Dessert was carrot cake with decaf coffee.
“‘We eat healthy here,’ the president joked, ‘except when Michelle is out of town. Then I order up burgers and fries.’
“The conversation was mostly about the Clintons and the 2016 election. From time to time, the president drifted off the subject and talked about baseball; he didn’t think A-Rod should be allowed to catch up with Willie Mays in the official homerun count. But Valerie kept steering the conversation back to the Clinton Foundation’s foreign-donor problem and Hillary’s private e-mails. I could tell Barack would have preferred to talk baseball. He was also excited about building his presidential library, moving back to Chicago, and enjoying some real downtime.
“‘I’m looking forward to spending a hell of a lot of time in Hawaii golfing with friends,’ he said.
“Both Michelle and Val thought that the FBI and the Justice Department should be ordered by the president to investigate the Clintons’ conflict of interest. Valerie argued that Hillary had deliberately lied to the president about not taking foreign donations for the foundation while she was secretary of state, and that she had ignored warnings about the use of her private e-mail account.
“The president flinched at the idea of an official investigation. He said it would infuriate the DNC [Democratic National Committee] and Hillary loyalists. And it could cost the party the election.
“Val and Michelle got pretty heated.
“‘You need to do your duty and order an investigation,’ Michelle said. ‘Even the goddamn Washington Post and the New York Times are outraged about the Clintons. [Attorney General Loretta] Lynch isn’t going to move on Hillary unless you make it clear that you approve.’
“The president replied, ‘The voters don’t give a shit about the foundation.’
“Michelle and Valerie looked at each other and rolled their eyes.
“Finally, after a lot of back and forth, they reached a compromise. The president agreed that the Department of Justice would launch a sub rosa investigation going over the known facts of the Clinton Foundation case and the e-mails, and that the attorney general would come back to the president privately within sixty days or so and give her opinion as to whether the situation merited an official investigation.
“It was awkward, but the two women got what they wanted. At least some investigation of the Clinton Foundation would move ahead.
“At that point, the president threw his napkin on the table and went out to smoke an e-cigarette.”