A month after recommending against the prosecution of Hillary Clinton, FBI
director James Comey informed congressional Republicans Friday that he
is reopening the investigation, which had seemed over and done with.
He noted 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."
Bizarrely, the evidence that has breathed new life into this
investigation were recovered from devices seized as part of the
investigation of former Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y.
The estranged
husband of Clinton's deputy chief of staff Huma Abedin, is facing a
federal probe over allegations that he sent sexually explicit messages
to a minor girl.
The public has no access to these new emails. It's too soon to
say whether they contain classified or top-level classified information,
or whether they represent emails that Clinton failed to turn over in
the first place.
But it would be surprising for Comey to throw such a
bombshell into the election without having already received some
indication that the newly discovered emails contain something pointedly
relevant to deciding whether Clinton or her staff committed crimes.
It would be an amazing turn of events if Weiner's infamous lack
of online self control led authorities to the evidence that sinks
Clinton.
Either way, the reopening of the investigation serves as a
reminder of why the presidential race is so close in the first place.
Clinton's campaign has constantly cited Comey's last major public
appearance as evidence of her legal clean bill of health, but in fact it
was his speech in which he recommended against charges that sent her
campaign into a two-month tailspin.
It was then, just before July 4 and again when the FBI's
report was released before Labor Day, that voters got their opportunity
to price in the facts about Clinton.
That she is a dishonest person;
that she almost certainly played dumb and lied to the FBI about her
understanding of classified material; that her team probably destroyed
pertinent emails on purpose; and of course that she negligently handled
classified information, despite being given a position of public trust,
all in an effort to circumvent government transparency laws.
Donald Trump's
campaign seems jubilant, but this may not turn out that well for him.
First of all, voters already know this side of Clinton's character and
it's probably priced in already. Second, it's likely the FBI won't resolve the matter until after next month's election.
The new revelation suggests the FBI
thinks it may have solid evidence against someone in the Clinton camp,
and is a reminder of how Clinton's arrogant, above-the-rules behavior in
Obama's Cabinet will be the character of any administration she runs.
Her White House, unlike Obama's or George W. Bush's, would be
consumed with investigations and scandal from day one. And she would
have no one to blame for this but herself.
Perhaps it will come to nothing. Perhaps it will provide a boost to Tim Kaine's presidential ambitions.
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