FBI bombshell lands on Clinton’s easy path
Hillary Clinton’s waltz toward the White House has just been complicated by a bombshell dropped on her path by the FBI — police announced they are examining new emails three months after they cleared her of criminal wrongdoing.
The news jolted markets that have heretofore treated a Clinton victory as a fait accompli. Stock markets, the Mexican peso, and her odds on political gambling sites all dipped slightly upon the earlyafternoon news.
The political bomb arrived in a package from FBI director James Comey.
In a letter to Republicans in Congress, Comey said he had been briefed on the existence of other emails just found during an unrelated investigation, and they appeared to be pertinent to the original case. Clinton had been cleared in July of criminally mishandling classified information.
Investigators are now examining the new emails for classified information, Comey said.
‘’The FBI cannot assess whether or not this material may be significant,’’ he wrote. ‘’I cannot predict how long it will take us to complete this additional work.’’
Vague as it was, the news prompted celebration from Republicans.
Cheers erupted at a Donald Trump rally as he arrived on stage and told a New Hampshire crowd: ‘’I need to open with a very critical breaking news announcement.’’ His fans had clearly heard the news already, as they immediately began chanting, ‘’Lock her up!’’
He applauded the FBI for reopening Clinton’s case — other Republicans used similar language. The FBI, however, never went that far in its letter. Comey’s letter only referred to an examination of new emails.
The Associated Press reported on a surprise source for the discovery: an investigation into the sex messages of disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner. The agency said police found the emails while investigating reports of his illicit communications with a minor, the latest of his several sexting scandals.
Weiner is the estranged husband of senior Clinton aide Huma Abedin.
Democrats implored the FBI to release more information. They called the vaguely worded, sensitively timed letter deeply unfair, given that it was released without context or explanation less than two weeks before an election.
‘’We are 11 days out from perhaps the most important national election of our lifetimes,’’ Clinton told reporters late Friday.
‘’The American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately. The director himself has said he doesn’t know whether the emails referenced in his letter are significant or not... That’s why it is incumbent upon the FBI to tell us what they’re talking about... Because right now your guess is as good as mine.
‘’They need to share whatever facts they claim to have, with the American people.’’
To Canadians, the phenomenon might smack of deja vu.
In the midst of a federal election a decade ago, the national police force sent a letter to the opposition confirming a criminal investigation into the governing party. In that case, it was the RCMP investigating the Martin Liberals for insider trading.
The letter from Giuliano Zaccardelli proved devastating.
The scandal-plagued Liberals had been leading in the polls, despite being battered by controversies over corruption in federal advertising and insider-trading allegations related to a tax-policy announcement. Within days, they lost about five percentage points, fell into second place, never recovered, and spent 10 years in opposition.
A former aide to Paul Martin said some of his friends Friday immediately noted the similarities. But he said he had another reaction.
Former Martin communications director Scott Reid predicted there won’t be the same fallout — for a variety of reasons. They include the state of the race, the lack of any specific accusation against Clinton, and his own view that Comey is less motivated by partisan malice.