Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has mounted a two-pronged strategy to overcome the setback to her bid for U.S. presidency, caused by a new Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probe into e-mails she had maintained on an unauthorised server while she was Secretary of State.
Supported by a large array of commentators and legal experts, many of them Republicans, the Clinton campaign has called into question the timing of the FBI disclosure about the probe that came 11 days ahead of the polling date.
Impartiality of FBI The campaign has also launched another line of attack against FBI Director James Comey by accusing him of not disclosing alleged links between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Russian entities. The Democratic counter-attack questions the impartiality of Mr. Comey.
“Director Comey has made it known that he felt he owed the information about the (Clinton) e-mails to Congress, but he has no problem depriving information to the American people, Senator Harry Reid and to House members who have been inquiring about Russia’s attacks on our elections and our democracy,” Robby Mook, Ms. Clinton’s campaign manager, said on Monday.
Democratic Senator Reid had a day earlier written to Mr. Comey that “it has become clear that you possess explosive information about close ties and coordination between Donald Trump, his top advisors, and the Russian government”.
While the Obama administration has disclosed earlier that Russian agencies were involved in breaking into Democratic computer networks, the charge that Mr. Trump is linked to the Russian government is unsubstantiated, but frequently raised by Ms. Clinton and her surrogates.
As criticism of Mr. Comey’s action grew, the White House said it would ‘neither defend nor criticise’ the FBI chief.
However, White House spokesperson Josh Earnest rejected the suggestion that Mr. Comey may be trying to influence the election outcome.
“The President doesn’t believe that he (Mr. Comey) is secretly strategising to benefit one candidate or one political party. He’s in a tough spot, and he’s the one who will be in a position to defend his actions in the face of significant criticism from a variety of legal experts, including individuals who served in senior Department of Justice positions in administrations led by presidents in both parties,” Mr. Earnest said. Mr. Comey, appointed by Mr. Obama, is into the third year of his 10-year term.
Mr. Trump, who had been accusing Mr. Comey of being part of a “rigged system” until last week, now says he has a “lot of guts”. “I was not his fan. What he did, he brought back his reputation.”
The FBI, armed with a warrant, has started analysing the e-mails it obtained from the computer of former Democratic member of Congress Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of Ms. Clinton’s top aide Huma Abedin.
