2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumThe damage Comey’s bad timing could do - By the Washington Post Editorial Board
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ OCT. 28, 2016
By Editorial Board October 28 at 7:24 PM
POLITICAL TENSION is running high in the United States, extraordinarily so, wed say. And so it behooves everyone in a position of official responsibility to do everything he or she possibly can to help maintain stability while avoiding all avoidable provocations until the bitter competition between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump runs its ugly course on Nov. 8.
That is the context for Fridays announcement by James B. Comey, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, that his agency is again looking into Ms. Clintons private email server in light of newly discovered emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation. Mr. Comey may have had good reason to inform Republican committee chairmen in Congress of the review, but his timing was nevertheless unfortunate, given its potential to affect a democratic process in which millions of people are already voting.
What might his reason be? On the merits, Ms. Clinton erred by using a private email server for her official communications as secretary of state though as we have previously argued, the matter has been greatly overblown. According to the previous FBI review, the small amount of classified material that moved through Ms. Clintons private server was not clearly marked as such, and no harm to national security has been demonstrated.
The FBI conducted a thorough investigation for any prosecutable offenses, especially any involving the transmission of classified information. Mr. Comey rightly recommended against bringing charges; he told his staff that the decision was not a cliff-hanger. In deference to the reality that the target of the inquiry was a major-party nominee for president, he gave the public a summary of the facts and law behind his decision. Mr. Comey went too far, however, in providing raw FBI material to Congress, notwithstanding its important oversight role; that attempt to appease Republicans set a precedent that future partisans who are unhappy with the results of FBI investigations may exploit.
Mr. Comey found himself in a bind when his investigators turned up additional, previously unexamined Clinton emails, apparently on devices belonging to top aide Huma Abedin and her husband, Anthony Weiner, seized during an FBI probe of the latters alleged sexual misconduct with a minor. (As if this could not get any more bizarre.) If Mr. Comey failed to tell Congress before Nov. 8 about his decision to review them, he would be accused again of a politically motivated coverup. By revealing it, he inevitably creates a cloud of suspicion over Ms. Clinton that, if the cases history is any guide, is unwarranted. Hence Clinton campaign chairman John Podestas not unreasonable demand that Mr. Comey immediately provide the full details of what he is now examining.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/an-october-email-surprise/2016/10/28/df1f98f6-9d46-11e6-a0ed-ab0774c1eaa5_story.html?utm_term=.0291730acc88&wpisrc=nl_az_most
FarPoint
(12,336 posts)For the FBI to speculate regarding the thin possibility maybe something could show up that was classified in the emails on another individuals computer as a scandal relating to Presidential Candidate Clinton.....a smoking gun! This announcement is erroneous and entirely incomplete!!!
Oh for Chrissake! That equates to saying we will have a hurricane because the wind is blowing.
Damage belongs to the FBI.. making vague, misleading empty claims without a conclusion or factual evidence is grounds for termination. This equals the level of Bridgegate to me.....
ooky
(8,922 posts)voting for Trump.
beachbum bob
(10,437 posts)isn't her server...not emails to or from her on her server but a secondary non-related investigation...Comey undertook a clear interference into US presidential election knowingly and with malice intent
dalton99
(781 posts)beachbum bob
(10,437 posts)and sooner or later the discussion may focus on this aspect...as its starting to do now in some outlets...Obama should be demanding his resignation and the DOJ should open an investigation into this ASAP
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)I would think she see this and can't be happy.
FarPoint
(12,336 posts)Just mislead voters.
FarPoint
(12,336 posts)Also Paul Ryan had his fingers in the pudding.
LAS14
(13,783 posts)It's ridiculous for him to protect himself by announcing a possible investigation before he has even seen the e-mails.
Cakes488
(874 posts)all the standard practices of the FBI. That needs to be the focus of the discussion.
Also Alan Dershowitz last night said that Huma's lawyers should of immediately filed a motion (or whatever) barring access to her emails on that shared device.
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)Pathetic, and the public will see it for what it is, a distraction from the GOP, Gross Old Pervert, candidate.