Hillary Clinton’s campaign on Saturday blasted FBI Director James Comey for taking the unusual step of announcing his agency was investigating additional emails that could be related to the case of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email system for government business.
“There's no evidence of wrongdoing, no charge of wrongdoing, no indication this is even about Hillary,” Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta told reporters.
Comey set off a furor with a letter to Congress Friday saying the agency was investigating after obtaining additional information in an unrelated case Thursday. But his three-graph letter was short on details.
Podesta described the letter as “long on innuendo and short on facts” and said it was immediately used by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, to taint Clinton. “The more information that comes out the more overblown it all seems,” Podesta said. But he declined to blame Comey for playing politics in releasing the unsolicited update to Congress.
Podesta said the emails Comey referred to were not sent or received by Clinton nor did they come from the private server she used as secretary of state. The campaign called on the FBI to release more information. Others supporting Clinton, including members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Congressional Black Caucus and Democratic mayors, pressed Comey to release more details about the letter.
“No one can separate what is true from what is not because Comey has not been forthcoming with the facts,” Podesta said. “By providing selective information, he's allowed partisans to distort and exaggerate to inflict maximum political damage.”
With less than two weeks to go before the presidential election, Comey has come under fire for his unprecedented decision that various news organizations reported Saturday was against the advice of Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Justice Department practice.
“It’s completely unfair to Secretary Clinton and it’s really unfair to the voters,” Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook told reporters. “There’s no reason [Comey] had to send this letter.”
In suburban Raleigh, people at an early voting site Saturday followed a pattern: Democrats were concerned as they tried to argue the FBI furor was overblown. Republicans saw an opening for Trump.
Democrats made much the same arguments as Clinton campaign officials. “It’s an unrelated investigation,” said Daniel Nelson, a Raleigh attorney. “It has nothing to with her qualifications to be president.”
But, said Elizabeth Ciereszko, a Raleigh infertility nurse, “the way it’s portrayed, it brings up questions for some people.”
Republicans were more ebullient. In Smithfield, 40 minutes away, they got a pep talk from vice presidential nominee Mike Pence, who warned of the “fast and loose ethics of the Clintons. It sounds like the Department of Justice is starting to feel that way too.”
That inspired the audience of about 1,200 to chant “Lock Her Up.”
Pence praised the FBI for “having the courage to reopen this case because no one is above the law.”
In Raleigh Saturday, Cliff Lane, a Raleigh property manager, was pleased. “It might make an impact on people who were undecided,” the Republican said.
“There’s an awful lot of smoke out there,” added Charlie Wheless, a Raleigh business owner and a Republican. “”So there’s got to be some fire out there somewhere.”
Trump had been gaining momentum even before Friday’s bombshell news. He trails Clinton by 2 in the latest ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll, down from 12 a week ago.
“As Trump’s controversies last week and the week before move farther into the rear view mirror, Republicans are expressing greater likelihood to participate: Eighty-one percent of registered Republicans now are likely voters, up from 75 percent a week ago,” said a poll analysis.
Clinton had been trying not to cause any waves as the election winds down. She had benefited greatly from bad news about her opponent – multiple women accusing Trump of sexual assault following the release of a decade-old video in which he bragged about groping women – and was working to avoid any change in that narrative.
Trump will have to rely on news media coverage to drive much of that message, having made the tactical decision much earlier not to spend as much time as Clinton did raising money – money he now could use to buy ads on the FBI news.