Less than two days before people go to the polls, FBI Director James Comey again stole the Election Cycle Theater stage, announcing the bureau has wrapped its review of emails discovered on Anthony Weiner’s computer, and is sticking with its conclusion from July that Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server while Secretary of State was not criminal. (See Comey’s full letter below.)
Back in July, Comey announced that the bureau had concluded its investigation of Clinton’s use of a private server, saying no reasonable prosecutor would take up a case against Clinton. At that time, Comey said the FBI had concluded no criminal acts took place, but described her handling of emails as “careless.”
“We are glad to see that he has found, as we were confident he would, that he had confirmed the conclusions he reached in July,” Clinton’s camp said, adding “We are glad this matter is resolved.”
Meanwhile, Trump surrogate Newt Gingrich slammed Comey for the “cave” in a tweet flurry:
TV news outlets immediately flipped on the stunned-reax switch, marveling at Comey’s second unprecedented walk-on appearance in an election cycle. He’d stunned them the first time in October, when he inserted himself into the campaign by announcing the bureau was taking another look at emails connected to the Clinton case.
Comey called today’s letter to Congress a “supplement” to his October 28 bombshell letter in which he notified them the FBI would be taking additional investigative steps after discovering a large volume of emails on Anthony Weiner’s computer. Weiner, the estranged husband of Clinton aide Huma Abedin, is under investigation for allegedly sexting an underaged girl.
“[B]ased on our review we have not changed our conclusion that we expressed in July,” Comey wrote.
CNN’s Jake Tapper called it “shocking news.” He and other TV news political pundits agreed two days was not sufficient time to get word out to voters and lift the “dark cloud” of Comey’s original announcement. “That cloud has certainly hurt her with voters,” Taper said.
Cinton press secretary Brian Fallon tweeted:
