FBI Comey Replaces Wikileaks in Dumping Emails
FBI Director James Comey said Friday that investigators had found new emails related to the bureau's previously closed inquiry into Hillary Clinton's handling of classified information, restarting a long-simmering debate over the Democratic nominee's conduct as secretary of State in the closing days of a presidential campaign that Clinton appeared to be putting away.
In a letter to senior lawmakers explaining his decision, Comey said "the FBI cannot yet assess" whether the information is "significant" nor could he offer a timetable for how long it will take investigators to make an assessment.
But an official familiar with the matter said Friday that the new materials, perhaps thousands of emails, were discovered in the ongoing and separate investigation into sexually charged communications between former New York congressman Anthony Weiner and a 15-year-old girl. Comey was briefed on the findings in recent days, resulting in the director's notification to Congress, said the official who is not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The emails were discovered in a search of a device or devices used by Weiner, who is separated from longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin. It is unclear whether Abedin had access to the same device or devices.
The official said it was not likely that the FBI's review of the additional emails could be completed by Election Day.
Clinton did not address the matter during a Friday speech in Iowa. But campaign chairman John Podesta demanded that the FBI director "provide the American public more information than is contained in the letter'' to lawmakers.
"Upon completing this investigation more than three months ago, FBI Director Comey declared no reasonable prosecutor would move forward with a case like this and added that it was not even a close call,'' Podesta said in a written statement. "In the months since, Donald Trump and his Republican allies have been baselessly second-guessing the FBI and, in both public and private, browbeating the career officials there to revisit their conclusion in a desperate attempt to harm Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.
USA TODAY
Clinton campaign chair on FBI review: ‘Immediately’ release more information
"We have no idea what those emails are and the director himself notes they may not even be significant,'' Podesta said. "It is extraordinary that we would see something like this just 11 days out from a presidential election."
In July, Comey announced that while Clinton and her aides during her tenure as secretary of State had been "extremely careless" in the way they'd handled classified information, he recommended that no criminal charges be filed.
Hillary Clinton speaks during a campaign rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Oct. 28, 2016. (Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images)
Soon after, the director testified before skeptical Republican lawmakers to explain the bureau's recommendation, which had been adopted by Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
“We’re mystified and confused by the fact pattern you laid out and the conclusion you reached," House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, told Comey.
Comey, however, was unequivocal in maintaining that the conclusion of investigators was not a close call.
“There is no way anybody would bring a case against John Doe or Hillary Clinton for the second time in 100 years based on those facts,” he told the House panel on July 7.
Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California said in a statement that "without knowing how many emails are involved, who wrote them, when they were written or their subject matter, it’s impossible to make any informed judgment on this development."
She added: " The FBI has a history of extreme caution near Election Day so as not to influence the results. Today’s break from that tradition is appalling.”
The uncertainty of what the new review will yield, and when it will be completed, leaves open the question of how much of an impact it will have on the presidential campaign, as Trump looks to mount what would be a historic comeback, as polls show him trailing nationally and in key battleground states.
"Unless the FBI closes this new investigation one way or the other next week, the likely impact will be to cut into Clinton’s margin, with the bigger effect being on down-ballot races than on the outcome of the presidential election," said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, in an emailed statement.
Whatever the long-term impact, the short-term jolt to Trump and his supporters, at least, seemed clear.
In his New Hampshire speech, the GOP nominee suggested the rest of his message for the day would no longer matter as much, given the FBI announcement.
"The rest of my speech is going to be so boring," he joked.
Contributing: David Jackson in Manchester, N.H.
In Politico:
"I got a lot of respect for Jim Comey, but I don't understand this idea of dropping this bombshell which could be a big dud," said former federal prosector Peter Zeidenberg, a veteran of politically sensitive investigations. "Doing it in the last week or 10 days of a presidential election without more information, I don't think that he should because how does it inform a voter? It just invites speculation ... I would question the timing of it. It’s not going to get done in a week."
CNN:
In defending the statement he made today, Comey might assert that he was attempting to clarify his prior Congressional testimony. But that elaboration on his testimony could legitimately have waited until the FBI completed its analysis of the new emails. He has been around long enough to understand that any new FBI statements regarding the email scandal during the final 11 days of the campaign had a high probability of improperly placing the Bureau into the political process.
Trashing the Justice and FBI rule books in the interest of "openness" is likely to put the FBI front and center in one of the most contentious presidential races in recent US history. J. Edgar Hoover loved to influence elections, but he had the good sense to keep quiet about it.
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| I should also add no national security violated? No crime (but damaged would have been done) |
In conclusion: The FBI Director has decided to throw a monkey wrench into the election by releasing some emails and some not. The ones that he released, no one knows what they say;
Particularly from the person of Anthony Weiner. The director was not required to advice Congress about this emails he accidentally found on Weiner’s computer. One would think the FBI would check those emails for classified materials and then if there was nothing that would be the end of it. If they found something then ring the bell that they found something bad and what it is; But to leave things hanging in the wind can easily affect this election which is almost here.
[The only connection Anthony Weiner had to the Clinton camp was his wife which was a top aide when she was Secretary of State. The Weiners have since separated but she still works for Clinton’s campaign]
What people are wondering is why would this FBI Director hang this unopened garbage bag at the wind just before the election and then say they wont be able to get to them, to examine them.
To leave them hanging before the election sounds very unfair. Some believe the pressure will mount for Comey to release everything and make a statement of what he has found so far…before the election.
Mrs. Clinton asked for more emails to be released and more information, not to leave things like this.
Trump on the other side seemed up and full of energy all of a sudden. He said to his crowd “the election might no be rigged after all!” He was delighted calling the unknown emails worse than Watergate.
After weeks for many Republicans sulking because of Trump’s statements and the numbers going down for him, today they were jubilant like if lady luck was shinning on them again.
For people that were tired of these email controversy something smelled rotten coming from under the seat of the Director of the FBI.
Dealing with Clinton he has thrown to the wind all the protocols that his agency has always followed since Edgar Hoover; By not announcing what the bureau is investigating and definably not interjecting the agency into a Presidential election. People will start wondering if Director Comey might even be a Republican; Wait he is!
Adam Gonzalez
Particularly from the person of Anthony Weiner. The director was not required to advice Congress about this emails he accidentally found on Weiner’s computer. One would think the FBI would check those emails for classified materials and then if there was nothing that would be the end of it. If they found something then ring the bell that they found something bad and what it is; But to leave things hanging in the wind can easily affect this election which is almost here.
[The only connection Anthony Weiner had to the Clinton camp was his wife which was a top aide when she was Secretary of State. The Weiners have since separated but she still works for Clinton’s campaign]
What people are wondering is why would this FBI Director hang this unopened garbage bag at the wind just before the election and then say they wont be able to get to them, to examine them.
To leave them hanging before the election sounds very unfair. Some believe the pressure will mount for Comey to release everything and make a statement of what he has found so far…before the election.
Mrs. Clinton asked for more emails to be released and more information, not to leave things like this.
Trump on the other side seemed up and full of energy all of a sudden. He said to his crowd “the election might no be rigged after all!” He was delighted calling the unknown emails worse than Watergate.
After weeks for many Republicans sulking because of Trump’s statements and the numbers going down for him, today they were jubilant like if lady luck was shinning on them again.
For people that were tired of these email controversy something smelled rotten coming from under the seat of the Director of the FBI.
Dealing with Clinton he has thrown to the wind all the protocols that his agency has always followed since Edgar Hoover; By not announcing what the bureau is investigating and definably not interjecting the agency into a Presidential election. People will start wondering if Director Comey might even be a Republican; Wait he is!
Adam Gonzalez
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