Greg Sargent has a good article on the latest dark Come(d)y

[Mme. Defarge]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/10/29/james-comey-needs-to-clean-up-his-mess-heres-what-we-need-to-know/?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-c%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.26ff4424bbb8

There is a lot of new reporting out there this morning about the letter that FBI director James Comey sent to Members of Congress, notifying them about newly discovered emails that may be pertinent to the FBI’s previous investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server.

Those emails reportedly could number in the thousands and were discovered on a laptop used jointly by former Congressman Anthony Weiner and his wife, Huma Abedin, a top aide to Clinton, and were discovered in the course of an unrelated probe into Weiner’s sexting.

Unfortunately, the latest reporting is often contradictory and confusing. So here’s my best effort to sift through it.

Comey’s language is maddeningly opaque and cryptic. In his letter to lawmakers, Comey says that the new emails “appear to be pertinent” to the previous investigation into Clinton’s use of a private server. He also says the FBI is now seeking to “determine whether they contain classified information,” and “cannot yet assess whether the material may or may not be significant.” (Emphasis mine.)

But Comey’s own declaration that the new emails “appear to be pertinent” suggests that they are significant. Comey surely knew that news organizations would conclude as much, which is what they are now doing, with screaming headlines and with analysis claiming this could impact the presidential race.

Perversely, we are being told by news outlets that the new info may not be substantively significant, but it may be politically significant, which, you’d think, is an outcome Comey would have wanted to avoid.

-Snip-