In a letter sent to members of Congress on Sunday, Director of the FBI James Comey said that a week of intense review of emails possibly related to Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server ultimately has “not changed [the bureau’s] conclusions” of their prior investigation and appeared to put to rest the idea anything explosive was contained in the recently discovered data or that charges would be warranted in the case.
Sunday’s announcement by Comey comes just two days ahead of Tuesday’s national elections and nine days after the director sparked widespread speculation about the potential content or nature of the emails, discovered during an unrelated investigation, on a laptop belonging to former Congressman Anthony Weiner, the currently estranged husband of one of Clinton’s top aides Huma Abedin.
“We reviewed all communications that were to or from Hillary Clinton while she served as secretary of state,” Comey wrote in his letter to Congress. “Based on our review, we have not changed our conclusions that we expressed in July with respect to Secretary Clinton.” It was those comments in July that many critics of Comey said opened the door to criticism of the director for injecting personal opinions and judgements into an ongoing investigation. At the time he said that no criminal charges would be brought against Clinton though he did criticize her for the way she handled some sensitive information.
As the Associated Press notes, Comey’s new letter “appeared designed to resolve any lingering ambiguity about the prospect that Clinton might face criminal charges, though it still left many questions unresolved—including the number of emails, their content, how the messages wound up on Weiner’s computer and what, if anything, the announcement means for Abedin.”
Since Comey sparked controversy on October 28, Republicans have been championing Comey for going public with the new information while Clinton and her supporters—as well as many outside critics—blasted Comey for acting in a way that could be interpreted as trying to influence the election. As the Washington Post reports:
In response to the news, Clinton is reported to have rolled her eyes in “understated exasperation over all the drama” surrounding the situation. Meanwhile, Donald Trump used the development as a new way to convince supporters that the system “is rigged” in favor of his opponent.
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