HOUDINI HILLARY GETS OUT OF JAIL
FBI sensationally clears Clinton over emails just hours before polls open
HILLARY Clinton is in the clear after the FBI announced last night she will not be charged over newly discovered emails.
The sensational announcement gave Mrs Clinton a last minute boost just hours before voting begins in the presidential race.
She had seen her poll lead over Donald Trump dwindle to virtually nothing when FBI director James Comey revealed ten days ago that they were reopening their investigation into Mrs Clin- ton’s use of a private email server while Secretary of State. It followed thousands of emails being found on a laptop used by a senior Clinton aide.
But yesterday he told Congress that analysis of the new emails had ‘not changed our conclusions’ from earlier this year that Mrs Clinton should not face charges for jeopardising national
security. the announcement marked a devastating blow to mr trump, who has relied heavily on the FBI’s renewed investigation into his rival to shift attention away from sexual assault allegations against him and to convince voters mrs Clinton is too untrustworthy to be president.
However, mr trump seized on the FBI chief’s letter to congressmen, which contradicted initial estimates that the investigation would take weeks longer to complete, as evidence to support his claim that the election is ‘rigged’.
the FBI decision dropped on a day of frenetic final campaigning as americans prepare to cast their ballots tomorrow, in which: ÷ mrs Clinton clung on to a small lead in the polls – placed between three and five percentage points nationally; ÷ record numbers of Hispanic residents have voted early for mrs Clinton in what appears to be revenge for mr trump’s attacks on mexicans; ÷ mr trump was rocked by claims he had an affair with an ex-Playboy model; ÷ mrs Clinton’s daughter Chelsea faced allegations that she used funds from the charitable Clinton Foundation to help pay for her wedding.
as the FBI probe ended, mr trump said at a rally in minnesota: ‘Hillary Clinton will be under investigation for a long, long time for her many crimes against our nation, our people, our democracy, likely concluding in a criminal trial. You have to understand it’s a rigged system and she is protected.’
mr Comey chastised mrs Clinton in July as ‘extremely careless’ amid evidence that the Democratic presidential candidate exchanged thousands of emails containing classified information on a system that could have been easily hacked.
However, he said at the time there was no evidence she consciously jeopardised state security and he did not recommend charges. the FBI reopened the investigation after they found 650,000 of her emails on the computer of anthony Weiner, a disgraced congressman and husband of Clinton aide Huma abedin, whom they were investigating in a separate case. But they have now ruled these do not change their initial ruling.
Yesterday the Clinton campaign faced separate embarrassment after new emails released by the anti-privacy website Wikileaks suggested Chelsea used funds from the Clinton Foundation to help pay for her 2010 wedding to investment banker marc mezvinsky and other personal expenses.
mrs Clinton has previously admitted that some of the emails she controversially deleted from her server related to her daughter’s wedding.
It was also alleged mrs Clinton had relied on her house- keeper at her Washington home, Filipino immigrant marina santos, to print out sensitive documents and messages while she was secretary of state.
With polls showing mrs Clinton hanging on to her lead in the polls, mr trump changed his plans and headed to the northern midwestern states of minnesota and michigan, which both traditionally vote Democrat.
With Barack obama also campaigning in michigan for mrs Clinton, the republican trump campaign claimed its rivals had ‘hit the panic button’ as they realised mr trump was winning over voters there. But Clinton supporters claimed mr trump was the one who was becoming desperate.
Pundits estimate mr trump needs to win not only the handful of key swing states but also a few Democrat strongholds.
according to a new poll yesterday – conducted before the FBI announcement – for NBC News and the Wall street Journal, 44 per cent of likely voters support mrs Clinton and 40 per cent back mr trump.
the republican also faced a further setback yesterday as it was claimed he had an extramarital affair with Playboy model Karen mcDougal.
at the time of the 2006 relationship, he was married to current wife melania.