Trump keeps after Clinton over Federal Bureau of Investigation probe

Kicking off the first of two rallies here in OH, during one of her final swings through the crucial battleground state, Clinton diverted from a speech targeting Donald Trump’s foreign policy credentials to address the new headlines about the Federal Bureau of Investigation and her private email server.

“The investigation will last for years”.

On Monday, Trump held a pair of rallies in MI, which last went for a Republican presidential nominee in 1988. “I was not his fan, but I’ll tell you what, what he did, he brought back his reputation”. “Nothing’s going to get done”, he said. If Clinton wins, Republicans have already said they will insist on further investigation into why the email scandal wasn’t further explored by the FBI.

The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, described the meeting as cordial, saying Comey and Lynch pledged to work together to resolve the new, politically charged review of thousands of emails linked to Clinton top aide Huma Abedin.

Meanwhile, some Republicans are skeptical that the FBI’s renewed interest in Clinton’s email will erase the Democrat’s advantage. Clinton maintained a 47 percent-41 percent lead in an NBC News/SurveyMonkey weekly tracking survey taken after Friday’s announcement, virtually unchanged from last week’s poll.

Though the void of information about the new email review may hurt Clinton, Trump’s reaction carried the risk of overplaying the controversy, especially with uncommitted voters who may not loathe Clinton as passionately as Trump’s core supporters do.

Several states, including those cited by Trump, have a process to allow voters who cast early ballots to change their votes, either by submitting new ballots or showing up at their polling place on Election Day. Comey concluded in July that while Clinton and her staff had been “extremely careless” in handling classified information there were no grounds for any charges.

But he also said there was no evidence they meant to mishandle classified information or obstructed justice, elements he suggested would be necessary for a prosecution.

“The president believes that Director Comey is a man of integrity, he’s a man of principle and he’s a man of good character”, Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Monday. Even if he wins the traditional battlegrounds of OH and Florida, he’d nearly certainly need to pluck one from the blue-leaning trio he’s visiting early this week – as well as a state like New Hampshire, Nevada or North Carolina – in order to overcome Clinton’s map advantage.

“And they said it wasn’t even a close call”. Lots of distractions. Throwing stuff at me. In all, more than 46 million people – up to 40 percent of the electorate – are expected to vote before Election Day.

She quickly set the issue aside, and launched into a 30-minute national security address.

That missive ignited a political firestorm less than two weeks before the election. Mook said on CNN, referring to Comey’s letter to members of Congress on Friday.

The U.S. government has accused Russian Federation of a campaign of cyber attacks targeting the Democratic Party that has led to the release of thousands of illegally obtained emails, revealing the sometimes unflattering inner workings of the party.

The FBI discovered the emails on a device seized from Abedin’s estranged husband, Anthony Weiner, who is being investigated for allegedly exchanging sexually explicit messages with an underage girl.

Federal authorities in NY and North Carolina are investigating online communications between Weiner and a 15-year-old girl. It is unclear what is contained in the emails or if any of them were sent or received by Clinton herself.

“I’ll neither defend nor criticize what Director Comey has made a decision to communicate to the public about this investigation”, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday. “It is mind-boggling, and Director Comey needs to answer this”.