New emails in FBI review not from Clinton server
Posted Oct 28, 2016 04:40:17 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A U.S. official says newly discovered emails that have prompted a fresh FBI review in the Hillary Clinton email case did not come from her private email server.
FBI Director James Comey told members of Congress on Friday that it is investigating whether there is classified information in new emails that have emerged in its probe of Clinton’s server. Comey says the emails surfaced during an unrelated FBI case.
A U.S. official with knowledge of the case said the emails were uncovered very recently and did not arise during the federal investigation into Russian hacking of the presidential election. The official was not authorized to discuss details publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Donald Trump immediately pounced on the turn of events, seeing an opportunity to press the argument he’s long tried to make against Clinton: That she thinks she’s above the law and that she put U.S. security at risk by using her personal email.
The GOP nominee told cheering supporters at his first campaign rally of the day that he has “great respect” for the fact that the FBI and the Department of Justice are now “wiling to have the courage to right the horrible mistake that they made” in concluding the investigation earlier.
Trump said of Clinton, “We must not let her take her criminal scheme into the Oval Office. … This is bigger than Watergate.”
In a letter sent Friday to congressional leaders, FBI Director James Comey said that new emails have emerged, prompting the agency to “take appropriate investigative steps” to review information that flowed through the private email sever Clinton used while serving as secretary of state.
Clinton’s email use has been one of the biggest vulnerabilities in her campaign for the White House. Even if she wins, Republicans have vowed the issue will follow her, promising continuing investigations.
Clinton’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to the news. She ignored shouted questions from reporters as she walked off her plane in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
But her campaign was fending off other political problems as well, still trying dismiss the revelations in thousands of messages stolen from the private account of a top Clinton aide, part of a hack the Democratic campaign has blamed on the Russians.
Correspondence made public on Wednesday showed longtime Bill Clinton aide Doug Band describing overlapping relationships of the Clintons’ global philanthropy and the family’s private enrichment.
“These are illegally stolen documents,” Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook told reporters on her campaign plane. “We’re not going to spend our campaign fighting back what the Russians want this to be about.”
So far, the email-related controversies haven’t seemed to hurt her campaign in the final weeks.
Recent surveys show Clinton retaining her lead in national polls and making gains in some swing states. Her campaign announced plans to hold a rally in Arizona next Wednesday, a traditionally red state put in play by Trump’s deep unpopularity among minority voters, Mormons and business leaders.
Feeling confident, she’s begun focusing on helping Democrats win control of the Senate, expand their margin in the House and lay the groundwork for future victories in demographically-shifting states like Arizona.
Her campaign will also get a boost from President Barack Obama, who will hold an evening rally in Orlando, a key battleground area of the crucial swing state of Florida.
White House officials say Obama will be travelling to boost Clinton nearly every day until Election Day, reflecting his rising popularity ratings.
Trump, meanwhile, is holding Friday events in New Hampshire, Iowa and Maine, one of two states that split their electoral voters by congressional district. Facing an increasingly narrow path to the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House, his campaign is shooting for one of the traditionally Democratic state’s four electoral votes in the more rural, conservative 2nd District.
His campaign said the billionaire businessman is plunging an additional $10 million of his personal fortune into his presidential bid, after new federal filings that show Hillary Clinton with an $85 million cash advantage in the final stretch.
The latest fundraising records, which cover the first 19 days of the month, show Trump had given only about $33,000 this month – far less than the $2 million he typically gives and still $44 million short of the $100 million he’s repeatedly promised to contribute over the course of the campaign.
Clinton’s campaign and joint accounts with Democrats had $153 million in the bank as of last week. That’s more than double the $68 million the Republican’s campaign and partnership committees had on hand.
“We are being incredibly efficient with the dollars we have. We’re doing things smarter,” said Trump deputy campaign manager David Bossie in a conference call with reporters.
He added, “I obviously want to see more on the air and with our communications, digitally and on television. That’s where we’re focusing on our final push.”
