Update 2: Jane Mayer/New Yorker reporter says that Comey defied Attorney General Lynch and established policy to comment publicly on an investigation so close to an election.
Update: Josh Marshall has a more forgiving take. What he calls unprecedented I call rogue.
James Comey was elevated to FBI Director because he blocked a Bush White House effort to get A.G. John Ashcroft to sign off on torture. Ashcroft was in the hospital and sedated. But a few months ago Comey went rogue: going live on TV to announce his findings on the Hillary Clinton email server investigation. He did not inform or clear this dramatic step with Loretta Lynch, who as Attorney General is his boss. In the speech he called Clinton "extremely reckless". A made to order TV attack advertisement, it was unappreciated by most Republicans who were greedy and wanted an indictment.
Now, 11 days before the election, Comey has taken a parting shot - announcing spontaneously in a letter to the Senate - that he is investigating newly discovered emails the relevance of which is not yet known. Comey is certainly on his way out: Trump has denounced him for failure to indict Clinton and Hillary Clinton can hardly be expected to keep him on as Director. To announce the beginning of a confidential investigation is unprecedented. Motivation unknowable but it will delight Donald Trump and the GOP attack machine.
The race will tighten because of that in part; and because Trump - no longer under debate pressure - is less likely to go into his often seen meltdown mode. And there is among many voters a wish to think the best of Trump as there is a bent to think ill of Hillary Clinton. It is worth noting here that no classified information was disclosed, little was transmitted, that which was transmitted was merely marked [C] in the text, not in capital letters at the top saying CONFIDENTIAL OR TOP SECRET, etc. - gwc
Newly discovered Hillary Clinton emails under investigation by FBI | US news | The Guardian
Update: Josh Marshall has a more forgiving take. What he calls unprecedented I call rogue.
James Comey was elevated to FBI Director because he blocked a Bush White House effort to get A.G. John Ashcroft to sign off on torture. Ashcroft was in the hospital and sedated. But a few months ago Comey went rogue: going live on TV to announce his findings on the Hillary Clinton email server investigation. He did not inform or clear this dramatic step with Loretta Lynch, who as Attorney General is his boss. In the speech he called Clinton "extremely reckless". A made to order TV attack advertisement, it was unappreciated by most Republicans who were greedy and wanted an indictment.
Now, 11 days before the election, Comey has taken a parting shot - announcing spontaneously in a letter to the Senate - that he is investigating newly discovered emails the relevance of which is not yet known. Comey is certainly on his way out: Trump has denounced him for failure to indict Clinton and Hillary Clinton can hardly be expected to keep him on as Director. To announce the beginning of a confidential investigation is unprecedented. Motivation unknowable but it will delight Donald Trump and the GOP attack machine.
The race will tighten because of that in part; and because Trump - no longer under debate pressure - is less likely to go into his often seen meltdown mode. And there is among many voters a wish to think the best of Trump as there is a bent to think ill of Hillary Clinton. It is worth noting here that no classified information was disclosed, little was transmitted, that which was transmitted was merely marked [C] in the text, not in capital letters at the top saying CONFIDENTIAL OR TOP SECRET, etc. - gwc
Newly discovered Hillary Clinton emails under investigation by FBI | US news | The Guardian
The FBI is investigating newly-discovered emails sent by Hillary Clinton via a personal server, its director has announced.
The FBI had announced in July that its investigation into the Democratic presidential candidate’s private email server had concluded with a recommendation of no criminal charges in the matter, although James Comey, the FBI’s director, criticised Clinton as “careless”.
But in a letter sent to members of Congress on Friday, Comey said new emails had been discovered in an “unrelated” case.
“In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation,” Comey wrote. “I am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed me on this yesterday, and I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information as well as to assess their importance to our investigation.”
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