October 28, 11 days before the election day, FBI Director James Comey sent a letter to Republican congressmen announcing that he’s now investigating into Hillary Clinton’s emails.
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| Picture from ThinkProgress |
It is an unusually sensitive timing to make such an announcement arousing lots of criticisms. Mark Sumner from Daily Kos suggested that what James Comey did was not helping himself build the image of apolitical image but harming this nation by his reckless move in his article: Why FBI Director James Comey Did The Wrong Thing…Again
However, Newsweek justifies Comey’s announcement that under the oath, he had no choice but to notify the Committee of what he knew. In addition, if he announces it before or after the election, people would be skeptical about his decision. Regardless of his intention, I think James Comey has interfered with the presidential election. He must have known that it would impact the campaign to certain degree.
What’s more, if James Comey did this on purpose, he successfully fooled voters who haven’t made up their minds to vote for Hillary Clinton. Right before the election, he reminds voters of the email-gate and with no further details people would just left to speculate. Not to mention how elated Trump would be to see this happen to Hillary Clinton.
But I think Clinton’s campaign did the right thing (or maybe because they do not have a choice) which is asking for the release of more information and and responding positively instead of with extreme harshness toward James Comey. John Podesta said: “It is extraordinary that we would see something like this just 11 days out from a presidential election. The Director owes it to the American people to immediately provide the full details of what he is now examining. We are confident this will not produce any conclusions different from the one the FBI reached in July.”
But we all know it is impossible for the head of the FBI to “provide the full details,” before the election day or sooner. After all, the investigation takes time to finish and it has been on the headlines for three days with no further details at all. But two things are for sure, that is, the election day is right at the corner and there's no more space for such bombshell to both candidates.
I'm seeing reports from both conservative and liberal bloggers that there is a factional fight within federal agencies between those who support Clinton, and those who do not support her.
ReplyDeleteThis is the most exciting November since 1978 when we waited to see whether the embassy hostages would be freed. As it turns out, they did not -- allegedly because of a secret deal between Reagan and Iran.