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.
Darren, don’t stop! This woman is the matriarch of a crime family.
Let’s look at this from a real world scenario. Here is the top level of a flowchart in evaluating whether or not a job candidate is suited for the position:
1) Is the candidate a felon or corrupt individual?
If “yes” then throw the resume into the garbage and look at the next candidate.
But with Hillary Clinton, forget all this and nominate her for the presidency
How low have we sunk as a nation to abandon the simplest form of reason and elect a dirty candidate for the highest office in the United States?
Yes, it is that simple.
The only attribute positively associated with Hillary Clinton is that she “is not Trump”. That is the only quality for which she is being presented by the DNC. When over seventy percent of democratic voters would rather have President Obama as the democratic nominee, it shows that Hillary Clinton is such a radioactive candidate, the only way to advocate her election to the presidency is by showing that Trump is evil and Hillary is the alternative. It shows how little the DNC has to offer to the American public with regard to candidates. The DNC has become the party of corruption and manipulation of the vote. It is no longer in-tune with the average voter as it has been shown to be nothing more than a tool of corporate America to further the position of large institutions and banks. The sad thing is with this situation is that regular voters continue to abandon what core principles the democrats have offered for the past forty years, and now just parrot what the party line is for the moment.
There will be a time when the public recognizes that the democratic party is nothing more that an instrument of the ruling class which has no regard for the plight of the ordinary citizen. And when that happens, you can say Goodbye to the relevancy of the party.
We have mail-in ballots here in Washington state. I voted already and I voted for Democrats down the line.
How about discussing something important such as why the sea is boiling hot?
David B. Benson – that mail-in ballot will be changed to all Republicans when it goes through the machine. I have a mail-in ballot, however because of the problems with several states, I am considering voting in person.
DBB:
re: “I voted already and I voted for Democrats down the line.”
Bully for you! Voting for Depravity all down the line.
Stupid Partisans stuck in the Coke vs Pepsi paradigm are ruining this country.
This was the year for a big Republican win… and they just have shit!
If it was Rubio, he’d have a 15 point lead; Romney would be walking away w it.
Sad day for the Republic– when choice “C” = none of the above is the preferred choice of both parties.
what happened to the FBI? Napolitano’s take:
http://www.unz.com/anapolitano/what-happened-to-the-fbi/
Comey’s disclosure shocks former prosecutors
FBI director’s announcement of new evidence in the Clinton probe compounds criticism of his earlier willingness to discuss the case.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/hillary-clinton-fbi-james-comey-disclosure-prosecutors-230467
Nick Akerman, a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, was more critical: “Director Comey acted totally inappropriately. He had no business writing to Congress about supposed new emails that neither he nor anyone in the FBI has ever reviewed.”
“It is not the function of the FBI director to be making public pronouncements about an investigation, never mind about an investigation based on evidence that he acknowledges may not be significant,” Akerman added. “The job of the FBI is simply to investigate and to provide the results of its investigation to the prosecutorial arm of the U.S. Department of Justice. His job is not to give a running commentary about any investigation or his opinion about any investigation. This is particularly egregious since Secretary Clinton has no way to respond to what amounts to nebulous and speculative innuendo.”
That doesn’t matter much around here, particularly to the Hillary Haters. It doesn’t even matter that much to Professor Turley, who has repeatedly (and legitimately) complained about The FBI’s prior departures from normal protocols during Its previous investigation, giving Hillary and others associated with her favorable treatment that would never be given to other potential targets.
This particular departure from protocol, unlike the prior departures, is just fine. Because Benghazi…….
Exactly! Well said.
I agree that the role of the FBI should be “to investigate and to provide the results of the investigation to the prosecutorial arm of the Justice Department.
Under that scenario, Director Comey would have completed his investigation, given the results to the Attorney General, who would in turn would announce if there would be an indictment.
That isn’t what happen, and Loretta Lynch was AWOL when Comey “explained” the difference between “gross negligence” and “extreme carelessness”.
And declared that “no reasonable prosecutor” would pursue criminal charges.
The top official in the Dept. of Justice appears to now be the FBI Director, not the Attorney General.
Looks like she will be the next POTUS…
If the Republicans manage to keep the Senate–
could she be impeached?
How bout we ensure that she does NOT become president?? Aren’t the masses stronger than the establishment?
The polls and on the ground game indicate otherwise.
Would that be indicated by 20,000 people showing up for a Trump rally, while only 300 show up for Hillary? Most working Americans are not voting for Hillary, translating to the majority of the middle class. And no matter how hard you try, welfare people prefer staying home than bothering with a voting booth. But you wouldn’t know by watching only the MSM. If Hillary were charged with child molestation, her disciples would still vote for her.
And maybe the masses will be so pissed at Comey that they will turn out and vote for her. At this point, no one knows.
“I’m with Her”
http://www.unz.com/imercer/im-with-her/
Huma was not one of the gang that got immunity.
Was this Putin? No, it was Clinton!
“I do not think we should have pushed for an election in the Palestinian territories. I think that was a big mistake,” said Sen. Clinton. “And if we were going to push for an election, then we should have made sure that we did something to determine who was going to win.”
same link as above.
Thanks Jill… I guess. How much more of this do we have to hear?
But I guess she didn’t body-shame anyone, so it’s OK. Really.
Democrats, here’s your great leader at work! “2006 Audio Emerges of Hillary Clinton Proposing Rigging Palestine Election
Unearthed tape: ‘We should have made sure that we did something to determine who was going to win’
By Ken Kurson • 10/28/16 1:00pm”
http://observer.com/2016/10/2006-audio-emerges-of-hillary-clinton-proposing-rigging-palestine-election/#.WBOP6mO8ojs.twitter
This is a non-story except to highlight why to put a woman in the white house.
The perverted behavior as trump called it is a direct reflection of the next 4 years if trump, the sexual pervert gets in the white house.
Hillary acknowledged her server choice for her emails was a mistake; however, Colin Powell, Bush, and Bush, also used private servers for email prior to hillary…they have not been brought up on charges for it, nor, have they needed to call their choice a mistake. I’m certain Hillary will not repeat this mistake.
Dir. James Comey overstepped his boundaries by releasing this letter stating nothing but speculation in order to assist Donald in this election. Mr. Comey should be fired! Funny it came in the same day Donald cut a check for 10 million.
What other story would you rather discuss concerning Clinton? There are plenty if you aren’t good with this one. I don’t think most people have a problem with putting a woman in the white house… at all. Just not a maniacal crook.
Slohrss29 Spot on!! Tulsi Gabbard 2020 (if we still have a semblance of a democracy). Should HRC get in their our institutions will be hijacked and destroyed.
No, Powell, Bush and Rice did not use private email servers. People keep trying to pin that on them and it is inaccurate. Powell used a private email services like AOL, which is vastly different and meant he could not “scrub” the contents of a disk when ever he felt like it. Rice also did not have her own private hardware and email server but she also rarely used email at all. Bush used appropriate channels though some of his staff used a server set up by the Republican National Committee.
While there is some grey area in all four individuals, none rise any where near to the level of Hillary Clinton in terms of intentionally thwarting the FOIA as well as any public or political scrutiny, but also in terms of the handling of state secrets in an insecure and higly irresponsible manner.
http://www.newsmax.com/US/Colin-Powell-Hillary-Clinton/2016/08/21/id/744514/ – sixth paragraph
http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/mar/15/juan-williams/media-reaction-george-w-bushs-email-controversy/
Also, it staggers the imagination to hear Democrats use this line of reasoning which boils down to: Republicans did it, so Hillary can too, yet these are the same people who positively howled when “some” (not Bush) in Bush’s administration used a server set up by the Republican National Committee. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, only by an order of magnitude, do they claim it’s perfectly OK because the other side did it too.
Yech…
Brooklin Bridge, how creative, clearly not your name. Neither newsmax nor politifact are reliable sources. *Bush used the RNC server also and deleted approximately 22 million (not thousand) emails during a time when he was under some interrogation. It barely made the news. I never mentioned Ms. Rice because I did not have any actual information as to what she used, but, thanks for the information. We now know how susceptible National Campaign email servers are to being hacked and have emails stolen. Something that was not on a strong radar 9 years ago. Still not very secure.
My point was not that the republicans did it so Hillary can too. Sorry, don’t have time to address all of your posts, I have a job. The reality is about predecessors whom told her what to use and was the common procedure. If there is a problem with government and emails it is because the government has not kept up with the speed at which the internet, emails, and technology changes everything everyone needs to worry about. Hillary did not use a public server. I see that as smart because the cloud is not safe and surely AOL is not. The reason Pedesta’s emails are being shared is because the hackers did not get to Hillary’s email server. Kudos to her.
What does concern me is a person who is also applying for a job as President had the gull to publicly plead to one of our enemies to hack into Hillary’s email! Then, it happened.
I am not taking issue with George Bush either. President Bush is not backing Donald, President Bush, first lady Laura Bush, and George Sr. Bush have stated they will vote for Hillary. As a matter of fact, many traditional republicans are going to vote for Hillary, because loyalty to America means more than party.
I’m not going to pretend I know more about the job of being President than the people who have had that job. I’m simply stating, IMO, unless the FBI has located an email where Hillary is actually confessing to intentionally trading secrets to the enemy, or she confesses in an email to having murdered someone…she stands way more qualified for the job of President than a buffoon of a blow hard, self-promoting, groping, sexist, crooked, disgusting, non-tax paying, narcissistic actor.
It’s ok though, I get one vote…you get one vote.
*footnote copied from: http://www.pbs.org/weta/washingtonweek/web-video/missing-white-house-emails
“In 2007, when Congress asked the Bush administration for emails surrounding the firing of eights U.S. attorneys, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales revealed that many of the emails requested could not be produced because they were sent on a non-government email server. The officials had used the private domain gwb43.com, a server run by the Republican National Committee. Two years later, it was revealed that potentially 22 million emails were deleted, which was considered by some to be a violation of the Presidential Records Act.”
Shelby – Bush did not delete the emails, the RNC did. They had it set to automatically delete an email after 30 days, they they set it to 90 days. Bush had not part of this, except he used their server for non-governmental business.
“Our Constitution is being shredded; we know about the secret White House email accounts.
It’s a stunning record of secrecy and deception”.
-Saint Hillary Clinton in 2007, re the deleted RNC emails.
Neither newsmax nor politifact are reliable sources.
That you don’t like a source that contradicts your fantasy is of no concern to me. There are plenty of other sources as these facts are beyond dispute. Do a search on any search engine, you will find that only Clinton had her own hardware. And you are living in a dream if you think that one’s personal hardware is more secure than what the state department offers (besides being legal). As to the cloud, are you even thinking? The cloud didn’t exist when Bush was president. It came into existence toward the end of his term and was only started to take off several yeas later. Moreover, “The Cloud” simply means a bunch of servers. AOL, has it’s own cloud.and would be far more secure even today than a personal computer, but again, Hillary was more than happy to risk state secrets as long as she kept the physical hardware so she could thwart the FOIA.
Finally, you are clearly making excuses for Hillary. That is plain to anyone except tribal hacks who happen to be DNC hacks. The tribal hacks on the other side will have their day again, and so it goes – but right now it’s you and people like you who are embarrassing yourselves and yet again falling for the bogyman trap and putting a lethally effective, corrupt, war monger and financial elite into a position of enormous power.
And the only way to get rid of Trump, or to be more accurate, more Trumps in the future, is to vote him into office and let Wall Street know we will no longer take the bait.
Shelby, obviously a Correct the Record troll trying to eke out $ as the election looms.
RE: “President Bush is not backing Donald, President Bush, first lady Laura Bush, and George Sr. Bush have stated they will vote for Hillary. As a matter of fact, many traditional republicans are going to vote for Hillary, because loyalty to America means more than party.”
HELL YEAH the Bushes and other republicans are backing HRC because they are owned by the same corporations and are playing for the same team. Profit before people — and destruction of institutions and the law.
But then, you know that. Deflection is your game, but it’s not working.
I’m a Jill Stein voter, but I am in sync with those who want to “Trump that B*&tch!”
I has yet to see a statement by either Bush 41, Bush 43, or Laura Bush indicating that they are voting for Hillary.
“A Kennedy said that George H.W. Bush said”, or “sources say”,
is not the equivilent of the Bushes announcing that they’ll vote for Hillary.
If they want to make that kind of announcement, fine.
In the absence of a statement from the Bushes themselves about “who they’re voting for”, it’s an unknown.
No amount of “according to sources” speculation changes that.
No, Shelby. HRC is crooked through and through. A total craven liar protected and promoted by the Establishment. If you want a decent woman in the WH this time around vote for Dr. Jill Stein.
Based on what facts? Craven Liar? Wow. Do you know her personally? The only person in this election who lies or misstates facts every 3.5 minutes is Donald Trump. His dear friend Chris Christie is going to be under indictment for his crooked, lying, corruption activities. Hillary has undergone 11 hours of interrogation, held up and no matter how hard her enemies of the establishment tried, they could not find her guilty. Try that sometime, it is not easy. Dr. Jill Stein is probably a fine decent woman, but, she has not stood the test of time. She might try working her way up the ladder of public service, take a job perhaps being secretary of state and see how well she holds up to the witch hunts. For now, at 2 percent of the vote, a vote for Dr. Stein is spitting into the wind. Perhaps a future run will turn out better for her.
Shelby – if you keep saying “I don’t recall.” or “I don’t remember” 50 or so times in a deposition, it is hard to get a handle on someone. Remember that 1/2 of those hearings were a**kissings by the Democrats. So she she got breathing room every 5 minutes.
“Craven liar? Wow. Do you know her personally?”.
Using your same “high standards”, Shelby, do you know Trump personally?
Since you called him a “sexual pervert”, and since you challenged the “craven liar” label for Hillary with the “do you know her personally?” gimmick, then tell us how well you know Trump personally.
Hillary’s memory lapses may be the result of PTSD from dodging the sniper fire in Bosnia.
“Craven liar? Wow. Do you know her personally?”.
Using your same “high standards”, Shelby, do you know Trump personally?
Since you called him a “sexual pervert”, and since you challenged the “craven liar” label for Hillary with the “do you know her personally?” gimmick, then tell us how well you know Trump personally.
Shelby – it comes the day after the FBI asst dir wife was found to have been cut a check by someone in the Clinton mafia. I am not sure what is there, but nothing should be there but kiddie porn, not classified documents.
One has to wonder how far Weiner distributed the email.
Here’s one fact few have mentioned. One of the problems, a serious problem, with leaking state classified information is that a foreign or domestic entity can then use the information to blackmail the official under penalty of announcing the secret information.
Could this be retaliation by Weiner against Huma?
That would presuppose he knew what was going on, of course.
Good point. It is out there that Huma sleeps with Clinton, so maybe Weiner took the emails, hoping to bribe Huma, but when she didn’t pay up, Weiner gave the emails to the FBI. Had the FBI simply found the emails ex nihilo, would they have even bothered to disclose them?
What else does Weiner know?
“Huma sleeps w Clinton”…
which one?
vinegart – I think they have decided that the right to testify against your spouse fails with you, not with them. Weiner could testify against Huma in a deal setting. And since he is a convicted sex offender trying to chat up an under-age girl, he needs the best deal he can get.
I am glad that the FBI felt enough pressure to cover its rear by going back to look at obvious criminality.
However, I think their credibility has been dangerously undercut by their failures the first time around.
It might be awhile before any juror trusts a DOJ case or an FBI agent’s testimony in any trial that has political overtones. Everything they do and say is tainted.
Supposedly they have a flash drive from Weiner with emails on it. Now this is embarrassing. You are looking for kiddie porn and all you find is classified emails.
Good one 🙂
Comey is like someone riding a unicycle on a bill board platform with a long brush ended pole tipped with white wash and he’s trying like hell to make a pornographic picture of Hillary with one of Bill’s bimbetts disappear. Self respect is quite the stranger to him.
My first thought upon reading this preliminary news was cynical. At first I thought this was just a smoke and mirrors display by the FBI to proliferate the idea that the agency remains an apolitical LEA above political influence. Now, I believe they focus on someone other than Clinton as being the guilty party and remain unchanged in their discredited suggestion that Hillary could not be held before a grand jury due to lack of evidence, a preposterous proposal. In the end, Hillary skates and continues; further emboldened to her standard practices of corruption, sleaze, and malfeasance.
Whatever the outcome in this latest news, I firmly believe that come January 19th, President Obama will fully pardon Hillary of whatever now, or in the future will bring her to a courtroom. He will claim similar justification that the country needs to move forward in twisted analog of President Ford’s pardon of President Nixon.
Then we read stories such as this and wonder when the systemic and endemic corruption will end. I have a suggestion on how to improve our situation. Don’t vote for anyone associated with the Clintons.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/oct/24/trump-camp-clinton-donations-show-fbi-corruption/
What Democrat is not associated w/ the Clinton’s?
Tulsi Gabbard is the ONLY Democrat I’m aware of who any integrity. She is not afraid of the Queen of Horror.
Reblogged this on Matthews' Blog.
Clinton aides will be well-rewarded for loyalty if she gets away with this, a la DWS who now works for her!
Hillary Clinton has no shame.