After throwing a political hand grenade into the last 10 days of the 2016 presidential election campaign, FBI Director James Comey says it was just a dud. This “oops!” came two days before the election.
On Friday, October 28th, Mr. Comey sent a letter to congressional committee chairmen — i.e., Republican politicians — vaguely associating Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton with emails found on a laptop belonging to well-known creep and disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner. Mr. Weiner’s estranged wife is a long-time Clinton aide. On Sunday afternoon November 6th, FBI Director Comey revealed that the emails were inconsequential, like the ones the agency had already cleared.
Donald Trump spent the last week before the election capitalizing on innuendo the Comey letter allowed. Ever hear law enforcement officials say they can’t comment on an ongoing investigation? This is the kind of screw-up that policy is meant to avoid, tainting the reputations of people who are ultimately not charged.
Of course, 40 million Americans have already voted. We’ll never know many voted in the week after James Comey’s ill-advised letter. The damage is done.
More:
“FBI clears Clinton after round-the-clock review of new emails, Comey says,” David Lauter and Del Quentin Wilber, Los Angeles Times
“FBI Director Again Clears Clinton After Review of New Email Trove,” Chas Danner, New York Magazine
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Tags: 2016 election, Clinton, Comey, elections, emails, FBI, Hillary Clinton, investigations, James Comey, law enforcement, politics
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