FBI releases documents from 2001 investigation into Bill Clinton pardoning late tax evader Marc Rich

The 129 pages, heavily redacted, were released as a result of a freedom of information request just one week before the election

The investigation of Mr Clinton's controversial decision to pardon Mr Rich was closed in 2005

One week before the election, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has released more than 100 pages of documents relating to a closed investigation surrounding Bill Clinton's decision to pardon a tax evader more than a decade ago.

Via its twitter feed, the FBI dumped 129 heavily redacted pages relating to the 2001 investigation of Marc Rich, a former hedge fund trader who had been convicted of tax evasion and who was pardoned by former president Clinton on his last day in office.

That investigation was closed in 2005 and no charges were filed against Mr Clinton.

An FBI official told CNN that the release on Tuesday was in response to a freedom of information request.

The information was released automatically via a twitter feed when it was ready for public consumption.

The twitter feed in question, @FBIRecordsVault, has also released information on Hillary Clinton’s emails and Mr Trump’s father, Fred Trump. Before Sunday it last tweeted in October 2015.

The decision drew criticism from Ms Clinton's press secretary, Brian Fallon, and he questioned whether the FBI would also release old documents relating to her rival, Donald Trump.

The data dump one week before the election has added fuel to the Democrats’ fire as to whether the agency and its current director, James Comey, is being tactical with the release of information.

The update comes just days after Mr Comey announced he was taking investigative steps relating to new emails found which were "pertinent" to the now closed investigation of Ms Clinton and the alleged misuse of her personal email server when she was secretary of state.

The Clinton campaign called for more transparency to clear up any whiff of controversy, while Republicans, including Mr Trump and house speaker Paul Ryan, congratulated Mr Comey for “righting a wrong” of letting Ms Clinton off the hook in July.

Mr Comey, a registered Republican, was criticised for donating to 2008 and 2012 Republican nominees, John McCain and Mitt Romney.

President Obama said through press secretary Josh Earnest this week that Mr Comey was a man of “principle” and “integrity” and had bipartisan support, and that his positive view of the director had not changed.

Mr Earnest said he could neither “defend nor criticise” Mr Comey’s decision to announce potential new investigation into Ms Clinton’s emails last week, four months after the investigation had been closed.

Mr Comey's chasing of Rich while he was a fugitive in Switzerland led him to become the top federal prosecutor in New York City. Rich died in 2013.