There is a major news development with the release of a letter from FBI Director James B. Comey that the Bureau has decided that new evidence requires further investigation into the Clinton emails. It was a surprising change just days before the election. After all, as recently as September 27, 2016, Comey rejected the idea that the bureau would reopen its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. Comey wrote in a letter to top members of Congress that the bureau has “learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation.” UPDATE: There are accounts suggesting that the information came from an investigation of Anthony Weiner, estranged husband of Huma Abedin, and that the emails were not authored by Hillary Clinton. This is still unfolding and there are calls to confirm this information. If the author is Huma Abedin, the investigation would hit one of the most senior aides. If it contained classified information, that is a stand only offense under federal law. Human Abedin was interviewed previously by the FBI — raising the risk that she will be called in for additional questioning. However, the new development could also prove insignificant for a criminal investigation and, if these were communications between Abedin and her estranged husband, it may not implicate Clinton personally or have any serious impact on the prior conclusions of the FBI investigation.
It is not clear what the “unrelated” case produced new emails related to the Clinton investigation. He also says that they are still determining whether these new emails contain “classified information” or are relevant to the overall investigation. Accordingly, this could result in a determination that the new concerns are a “dry hole” and that no further action is needed. However, it is fairly unusual to take the step to notify Congress before an election. One would assume that there is some threshold determination that the evidence warrants such a step that would inevitably cause a flair up in the political season.
I have been critical recently of the handling of the FBI investigation, particularly in the granting of immunity to key potential targets. I recently wrote a column on FBI investigation into the Clinton email scandal and revised my view as to the handling of the investigation in light of the five immunity deals handed out by the Justice Department. I had previously noted that FBI Director James Comey was within accepted lines of prosecutorial discretion in declining criminal charges, even though I believed that such charges could have been brought. However, the news of the immunity deals (and particularly the deal given top ranking Clinton aide Cheryl Mills) was baffling and those deals seriously undermined the ability to bring criminal charges in my view.
Wikileaks disclosures have only embarrassed the Bureau further in showing Clinton aides debating how to explain the deletions and how to delay turning over material. Comey now has told legislators that “I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation.”
He did note that the FBI could not yet assess whether the new material is significant. Comey clearly felt obligated to let the Committees know about the development. In making such a decision, Comey is caught in the horns of a dilemma. The Justice Department strongly discourages investigatory announcements or actions shortly before an election to avoid any claims of trying to influence the outcome. On the other hand, if this is significant, the FBI does not want to be accused of hiding material developments from Congress or the public, particularly after criticism over its alleged different treatment given Clinton and her aides as opposed to other recent cases.
In such a situation, caution favors disclosure. It is unlikely that we will see major developments in the remaining two weeks, but the announcement shows that this is not a closed matter. In many ways, the lingering character of this scandal was only worsened by the tactics of Clinton aides in changing explanations and refusals to cooperate absent immunity. That served to delay the investigation, which will now likely extend beyond the election.
It is info obtained from investigating the sociopath Weiner. Lot’s of sociopaths in the Clinton camp.
Lots of sociopaths in the Clinton camp…. Add them all up, exaggerating as you will, and they still don’t tip the scales with Trump alone on the other side. Trump is sociopathic to the point of psychopathic. If Trump, at the last minute, laughed and said, “got ya”, it would make as much sense as the scenario that he actually thinks he can be President. Nothing on the Left holds a candle to Trump’s narcissistic self gratification. Then, sit down and relax and throw in the likes of Palin, Bachman, and the rest of the nut cases who have little to no command of the English language. If simply to avoid another eight years of Bush-like blathering, but much worse, we can’t subject the nation and indeed the world to this imbecile.
Isaac_
I don’t think you’re in the best position to complain about “blathering”.
issac – have you ever seen Obama give a speech/talk without his teleprompters? He is a blathering idiot. It is the reason he does not give press conference, and when he does the questions are planted.
A friend who is former FBI says there is a mutiny going on in the FBI. They are livid @ the way Comey handled this case and how the reputation of the Bureau has been tarnished. . I surmise Comey was prepared to sit on this until after the election but feared disgruntled agent[s] would leak it. So, being the smart non elected politician, Comey got ahead of it and “leaked” the info himself.
@NickS your friend is probably right but maybe Wiki is getting close to how and what was said to quash a real investigation resulting in an indictment?
Here’s something else maybe Wiener is getting ready to kick the can on all he knows in return for some kind of immunity? Of course if he is he had better get himself some good bodyguards, check his brakes and steering, certify that he wouldn’t take his own life and have a health examination saying he’s fit as a fiddle.
This would make sense. Since any further investigation is simply going to result in a white wash, one wonder’s why bother? And why bother with Weiner, if he is simply trying to address wide spread contempt of his handling of this case? But if Comey is trying to swat down a rebellion, he may have been caught off guard. Still, the Weiner connection seems bizarre or fabricated to divert attention.
if the FBI discovered additional information and it was not really relevant or important enough to warrant charges, and they were the only ones that new of the information, why send a letter, just disregard it .
The Clinton machine is just sacrificing Huma because her direct ties to the middle east were exposed.
Perhaps it is just the robo-workings of the FBI, having been accused of being sloppy, biased, etc the bureau is simply surfacing any and everything. If the FBI makes a judgement call and determines on their own, before the jackals have had it, that there is nothing here, then they will be accused of being biased. Perhaps, Nah, vote for Trump, the safe bet. Donald, ‘Chicken Little’ Trump the carnival barker, fear mongering, nut case.
@Issacbizarrovich, I think there are “nut cases” but it’s those who believe she has not violated the law.
Really Issac,
This isn’t about who you vote for. This story is about the FBI’s supposed “new” evidence, while having plenty of old evidence as well of criminal wrong doing.
It should bother you, but I guess since it’s “your” side doing the bad stuff, it’s o.k. with you. There should be more to citizens caring about our nation than about which party they want in the WH.
Jill
The email issue is established and has been attributed to carelessness with a dash of egotistical-I can do what I want. Clinton has confronted the issue, admitted that it was a mistake, and so far no damage has been done. All we can do is look to people to learn and move on. With Trump there is no learning. He has exhibited nothing more than I have always known it all. Trump is the millionaire that you don’t argue with. He is unstable and at the same time almost totally devoid of any idea of what to do beyond what he has expounded which is next to stupidity. The unfortunate problem with this election is that there are only two choices and one of them is a nut case with a million dollars of plugs on his head and not much inside. Trump is clever. He knows how to reach the mob; but then so did a lot of dangerous people in history. Think long and hard. We all want change and a steady hand at the helm. Do we want to go through another eight years of Bush like leadership but multiplied a few dozen times. Even Bush was not that dangerous. It was his handlers. If Trump is elected he will be at war with everyone and there are no handlers. Clinton may be just another politician but she has a stability America needs. Trump will set this country back at least a generation. Trump is way more corrupt than Clinton. His corruption has been so far in the private sector. Clinton’s has been in the public sector. Ask yourself if you want to see Trump’s level of corruption and narcissism in the White House.
Issac,
I must say you certainly did dismiss criminal behavior that has not yet been plumbed so very breezily!!!
Many people think it is Hillary who will start more wars. She wants a no-fly zone in Syria which will escalate that war and get us into a war with Russia. I have no idea why you don’t think she’s dangerous. She’s involved in ordering murder and torture and already started wars, just as SOS! I also have no idea why you think she’s a steady hand.
She says she understands the science of global warming yet she also admits to flogging fracking around the world. Those two statements cannot be reconciled. She is for the TPP, against it, and for it. She has caused horrible things to happen in other nations and within our own nations. There is nothing even remotely stable about her.
Clinton people just don’t look at what is plain to see, so I won’t try to convince you further of her abysmal record. It’s something you could see if you wanted to. Clinton people like to say Americans only have one other choice on election day. You guys are the binary thinkers. Many other people are not!
Jill
A no fly zone over areas where refugee camps could be established would be a welcome move by all sides. This is what Clinton has proposed. This no fly zone would be a strong foot in the door by the West. The West has been accused for standing by and doing nothing while Syria and Russia have their way. The Republican hypocrites have also assailed Obama for not acting. What else ya got?
Fracking has achieved a number of positive results as well as negative results. Fracking, although potentially environmentally harmful has produced enough gas to offset America’s dependency on coal fired power plants. Natural gas has reduced coal through economic arguments without subsidies and also, along with oil, reduced American dependency on foreign oil imports.
Regarding the TPP, this is a proposed trade agreement that has been changing and will continue to change. Clinton is for open trade but as the details come out and while the TPP is still a work in progress she has positioned herself to fine tune it to a greater US advantage. Like most things there are good and bad results.
I doubt there are many Clinton supporters who see Clinton as some savior as do the idiots who mindlessly support Trump. Most of those who are voting for Clinton simply want to avoid the catastrophe that would be Trump. You can expose Clinton for all of her shortcomings yet you will never make Trump into a sane choice for the Presidency. His trickily down approach has caused two recessions. It doesn’t work. He will create a deficit of 20+trillion. Both Republican and Democrat economic advisors warn against his economic proposals. The eight years of the Obama fix following the last trickle down experiment has not completely reversed the effects of the idiots Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld but the country is on the way to recovery. All experts state this. Trump has nothing to offer but his narcissistic adventure. He has no experience. He was born with a silver spoon in every orifice. He has failed in a third of his business adventures-bankrupcy. He has succeeded in a third of his real estate adventures. The guy was bankrolled and connected while in his mother’s womb. He is an entertainer and a blowhard. I, along with most Democrats can see the dark side of Clinton but can also see the vacuous side, front, back and other side of Trump. There is simply no there there.
“This no fly zone would be a strong foot in the door by the West”.
The so-called no fly zone in Libya worked out so well, what could possibly go wrong?
Total U.S. debt stood at $19 Trillion in Jan.2016, and $19.5 Trillion in Sept. 2016.
It doesn’t takea budget wizard to figure out that the next president will be at “20+trillion”.
There is no there there in the same, lame broken record mantra from the “lesser of two evils” source we see again and again and again.
tnash
That’s 20+(24)Trillion estimated uniquely due to Trump’s policies. The estimates of the debt under Clinton have been, by both sides, modest, far below those of Trump. However, there is no way to really know because he hasn’t made a bit of sense in anything he has said except to excite the excitable. In his own words in the books written by his biographers, Trump preaches that you don’t sell the building, you sell the illusion. So, think used car salesman and you nailed it. The present US debt is a result of several Presidencies with the Bush eight years contributing the lion’s share. The Bush trickle down experiment eclipsed the last trickle down experiment by Reagan by light years. Reagan’s screw up-to which he admitted on TV-cost the country a seven year slide or stagnancy or whatever you want to call it. We are still digging out of the mess given us by the three stooges. Obama has done good and bad but the numbers prove that the Obama administration with nothing but obstruction by the Republicans has all but brought the US back on track. Unemployment is down. The level of rising debt is decreasing. And, thousands of Americans are not dying in useless wars abroad.
Economists, both Democrat and Republican, predict that Trump’s economic policies-a yuge tax cut along with increased spending-will sewer the US economy. 25% of Republican elected representatives have cut ties with him. Trump is at loggerheads with everyone except the mob. It might be a good thing if he had anything intelligent to say but Trump has said nothing but adjectives and adverbs as yet. It is truly the difference between more of the same and a pathological liar and exhibitionist extraordinaire. If the hair doesn’t tell you something then perhaps you are too far gone. If you actually believe that Trump will change anything in Washington then I have a bridge for you to consider buying, or better still the illusion of a bridge.
Isaac,
I don’t think it will matter to you how much debt Hillary stacks on, or how many more foreign policy screwups she adds to her current list of foreign policy vlunders.
In your mind, any blunders in a Hillary administration will be Bush, or Reagan’s fault.
That’s been a handy tool you’ve used again and again throughout the Obama administration.
So dust off your hackneyed phrases like “tge three stooges”, or “the miggest cowboy”.
That’s about as far as you’ll get when you give us your “objective analysis” of a Hillary adminiatration,
saddled with all the errors of the Republican oarty since Lincoln.
Isaac,
Of course the “lion’s share of U.S. federal debt is Bush’s fault.
If Bush added c.$5Trillion to the debt, and Obama c. $10 Trillion more to the debt, then it’s fullt predictable that you’d make that claim.
issac – you hit the nail on the head. We Want to put the country back a couple of generations.
Potential evidence……
Dave – Huma is in hiding.
Hillary has a severe coughing fit again
“Another device”?? Unless the emails are found on a secure and properly protected email server, and unless the emails in question have gone through a secure hash algorithm (HSA) and then “signed” with master key, the authenticity of the emails is questionable.
Bingo!! At least one person knows what’s what!
No Marco. What you’re saying isn’t correct.
See my response to you above. Do you know what a secure hash algorithm is? Do you know how email system work? I have 40+ years of IT experience. How many years of IT experience do you have?
The new emails are tied to the Anthony Weiner investigation. Found on his device.
Let’s see if Hilly starts coughing, sneezing, stammering, falling down stairs and passing wind again, maybe that’s her “Tell”?
Could this be Comey’s plan to get his bro VP Kaine into the White House? Once HRC is “(s)elected President could they then indict her leaving us with bro Kaine as our President? Bro Comey needs to resign.
Our democracy survives only if Lady Justice really is blind…
Why is everyone apparently taking these hacked emails at face value? I see and hear no one referring to them as “alleged.” I have seen and heard no one saying that the emails are (1) precisely what they appear to be and (2) they have not been altered in any way.
OR… is this just a way to bury the whole thing until after the election?? “OK, we’re investigating now…. (sounds of crickets….)”
Besides, maybe it takes just a few more than 33,000 pieces of evidence to accuse someone.
In theory, anything can be done. China just beat our intelligence with a quantum communications satellite. Don’t think there is a way to get around that.
Reasonable doubt is what we have here. It’s an awful lot of work to rewrite the headers on 33,000 emails. But, in theory, it could be done. I think trying to recreate this as an email scam is wayyyyyy beyond reasonable doubt.
Dr. sigday,
Not that it matters since the e-mails aren’t relevant to reopening this investigation according to the FBI, still…
“Digital Security Test Shows Podesta Emails UNALTERED By WikiLeaks”
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2016/10/24/digital-security-test-shows-podesta-emails-unaltered-by-wikileaks/#ixzz4OPK4YknJ
Absolutely! The only way to tell if the emails are valid is to compare them to those on the sending server. An email on a laptop (or any computer) is easily changed.
No Marco,
You are misrepresenting the facts.
Really? How many years, make that decades, if I go tech experience do you have? Me? Almost 40 years of IT experience.
The sending servers of the secure system showed that someone transferred information from them to Hillary’s unapproved email and server. That she had info that was only supposed to be on the secure side on her unapproved system was noted in the FBI investigation.
Just trying cover his assets. He had enough the first time but he blemished the entire agency. His own people are angry for what he did so now it’s try and clean your face time. Most reasonable Americans know this woman lies like rug. Had it been anyone on this blog and I mean anyone you would have been toast.
There must be more coming from Wiki about him and the agency so he’s probably trying to create a cover story now.
The weight of evidence that Clinton committed a crime is great. Politicization took place with Comey refusing to investigate basic evidence that was available to him for quite some time. What has changed is that the knowledge Comey had, but ignored, is now in the public domain.
The career staff thought there should have been an indictment. Comey overruled them. To read about the evidence he did not pursue and the evidence Comey ignored is simply shameful.
I hope there will be a real investigation which includes the ignored and unexamined evidence which has been available all along.
What stocks should I buy Monday?
Johnson & Johnson–bandaids are gonna get popular.
The bureaucracy is finally throwing the Obama Administration under the bus.
Law enforcement sources say the newly discovered emails are not related to WikiLeaks or the Clinton Foundation, CNN’s Evan Perez reports.
Do the “sources” explain why the FBI needed to send a letter to Congress to say that? This is not just “new evidence”. It’s new evidence about the ongoing investigation into Clinton’s emails, which, apparently, is not closed. It looks major enough to me.
I don’t think the FBI and the Obama DOJ will do a thing to her. This is just more political theater designed to cover up the obviously pro-Hillary rigged investigation.
Go back to the Kardashians, America.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Unfortunately, Squeeky, you are probably right. Hopefully, the electorate won’t take the same position. If Trump wins, it’s the country saying “Sayonara, Obama, don’t slam the door on your way out!”
Also, am I the only one noticing that this gets released on a Friday afternoon?
Yes, you are correct… unfortunately.
However, if the Republicans manage to keep the Senate, don’t you think they’d have a chance at impeachment… provided they could all get on the same page.
What difference, at this point, does it make????
Ome difference it doesn’t make is being elected and being sworn in are two different things. Assume they find probable cause and proceed with an arrest after the election. Then it goes to the Attorney General who may or may not do anything but she can’t stop the apprehension.
No help from ObeyMe he can’t grant a pardon until charges are filed. Lynch can’t stop an apprehension which can be made at any time. I am more than certain finding a Judge to sign the warrant however would not be difficult. So what is the magic moment when it is too late? Noon on the 20th Eastern time or upon completion of the last syllable of the swearing in ceremony?
Imagine that arrest being made what then?
Well Act of Succession isn’t needed the new President would be the new Vice President unless he two was arrested. No chance of that.
And then?
Whose the Speaker of the House and those folks are either already in place or are sworn in January 3rd.
Best part is they wouldn’t need Lynch’s approval or disapproval. That comes after the arrest unless the evidence adds her to the list of participants in this rather ham handed obvious coveru
Usually a Supreme Court Judge gives the Oath. If it’s Clarence Thomas no worries it isn’t Comrade Clinton being sworn in and right now it’s 50 50 and pick ’em.
Now yiou see why the Socialistas are pushing early voting. One cast it cannot be changed? Well…maybe there are certainly a lot of irregularities in voting
But wouldn’t i like to see first Clinton then her VEEP then Lynch carried away in handcuffs….Hillary is far from safe. EXCEPT…. (see below)
No down side. FBI regains it’s stature. Comey keeps his job and the rest of us sign our names
LMAO
After being elected or not being elected the VP resigns and the successor to Obeyme is von Clinton.
then Obeyme resigns early making Clinton the President. Oath given early who cares if she’s lying as usual. Certainly not the court.
Right now that is her only safe route providing
The Congressionals confirm the appointment.
Whoops.
Aren’t checks and balances a wonderful thing!
Unfortunately, yes.
I’d rather see Trump’s emails.
Why, nothing in his e-mails that would have put the nation at risk, remember he’s not a member of the political aristocracy. You would do better by worrying about Hilly’s criminal activities.
You don’t know that.
Trump is not a current employee of the government and privy to that type of information.
I’ll bet you 10 to 1 I’m right.
Why? These e-mails show corruption at the very heart of USGinc. There is evidence of criminal wrong doing.
While Trump’s would be interesting and also informative, with Clinton’s e-mails we see crime being committed and covered up as it occurred. Because Clinton worked for USGinc. and has criminal ties to many dictatorships, arms dealers, banksters, and collaborating journalists, etc. you have a unique window into how power is wielded by this govt.
Trump’s e-mail would be a poor substitute for this knowledge. Of course, I really don’t think you need me to tell you this!