{"id":53993,"date":"2016-10-30T06:49:04","date_gmt":"2016-10-30T10:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=53993"},"modified":"2016-10-30T06:50:47","modified_gmt":"2016-10-30T10:50:47","slug":"hillary-clinton-assails-james-comey-calling-email-decision-deeply-troubling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=53993","title":{"rendered":"<b>MUST VIEW<\/b> Video: &#8216;Hillary Clinton Assails James Comey&#8217; &#8212;NYT (Since when do presidential candidates intimidate FBI Directors?!)"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 id=\"headline\" class=\"headline\">Hillary Clinton Assails James Comey, Calling Email Decision \u2018Deeply Troubling\u2019<\/h1>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p class=\"byline-dateline\"><span class=\"byline\">By <a title=\"More Articles by PATRICK HEALY\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/patrick-healy\"><span class=\"byline-author\" data-byline-name=\"PATRICK HEALY\" data-twitter-handle=\"patrickhealynyt\">PATRICK HEALY<\/span><\/a> and <\/span><span class=\"byline\"><a title=\"More Articles by JONATHAN MARTIN\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/jonathan-martin\"><span class=\"byline-author\" data-byline-name=\"JONATHAN MARTIN\" data-twitter-handle=\"jmartnyt\">JONATHAN MARTIN<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"New York Times Video - Embed Player\" width=\"480\" height=\"321\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" marginheight=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" id=\"nyt_video_player\" src=\"http:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/video\/players\/offsite\/index.html?videoId=100000004736979\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"story-body-supplemental\">\n<div class=\"story-body story-body-1\">\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"263\" data-total-count=\"263\"><a class=\"meta-per\" title=\"More articles about Hillary Clinton.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/topic\/person\/hillary-rodham-clinton?inline=nyt-per\">Hillary Clinton<\/a> and her allies sprang onto a war footing on Saturday, opening a ferocious attack on the F.B.I.\u2019s director, James B. Comey, a day after he <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/10\/29\/us\/politics\/fbi-hillary-clinton-email.html\">disclosed<\/a> that his agency was looking into a potential new batch of messages from her private email server.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"237\" data-total-count=\"500\">Treating Mr. Comey as a threat to her candidacy, Mrs. Clinton took aim at the law enforcement officer who had <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/07\/06\/us\/politics\/hillary-clinton-fbi-email-comey.html\">recommended no<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/07\/06\/us\/politics\/hillary-clinton-fbi-email-comey.html\"> criminal charges<\/a> less than four months earlier for her handling of classified information as secretary of state.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"254\" data-total-count=\"754\">\u201cIt\u2019s pretty strange to put something like that out with such little information right before an election,\u201d Mrs. Clinton said at a rally in Daytona Beach, Fla. \u201cIn fact, it\u2019s not just strange; it\u2019s unprecedented and it is deeply troubling.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"346\" data-total-count=\"1100\">For Democrats, it was also deeply worrying. Mrs. Clinton\u2019s advisers expressed concern that the F.B.I.\u2019s renewed attention to emails relating to the nominee would turn some voters against her, hurt party candidates in competitive House and Senate races, and complicate efforts to win over undecided Americans in the final days of the election.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"what-we-know-about-hillary-clintons-private-email-server\" class=\"interactive promo layout-small\">\n<div class=\"interactive-image-container\">\n<div class=\"interactive-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2016\/05\/27\/us\/politics\/what-we-know-about-hillary-clintons-private-email-server-1477698767815\/what-we-know-about-hillary-clintons-private-email-server-1477698767815-master180.png\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"interactive-overlay\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"interactive-headline\">Graphic: What We Know About the Investigation Into Hillary Clinton\u2019s Private Email Server<\/h2>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"309\" data-total-count=\"1409\">So after stepping gingerly around the issue on Friday, calling on Mr. Comey to release more specific information but not overtly criticizing him, her campaign made it personal on Saturday, accusing the director of smearing Mrs. Clinton with innuendo late in the race and of violating Justice Department rules.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"story-body-supplemental\">\n<div class=\"story-body story-body-2\">\n<p id=\"story-continues-2\" class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"315\" data-total-count=\"1724\">The decision to target Mr. Comey for his unusual decision to publicly disclose the inquiry came during an 8 a.m. internal conference call, after aides saw reports that Justice Department officials were furious, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/10\/30\/us\/politics\/comey-clinton-email-justice.html\">believing he had violated<\/a> longstanding guidelines advising against such actions so close to an election.<\/p>\n<p id=\"story-continues-3\" class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"223\" data-total-count=\"1947\">Even before Mrs. Clinton spoke in Florida, her campaign chairman, John D. Podesta, and campaign manager, Robby Mook, criticized Mr. Comey for putting out incomplete information and breaking with Justice Department protocol.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"334\" data-total-count=\"2281\">\u201cBy providing selective information, he has allowed partisans to distort and exaggerate to inflict maximum political damage,\u201d Mr. Podesta said during a conference call with reporters. \u201cComey has not been forthcoming with the facts,\u201d he added, describing the director\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2016\/10\/28\/us\/politics\/fbi-letter.html\">letter to Congress<\/a> on Friday as \u201clong on innuendo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"409\" data-total-count=\"2690\">Whatever shortcomings Mrs. Clinton may have as a candidate, Saturday\u2019s coordinated effort showed that the political organization that she, her husband and her allies had built over decades remained potent and would not let what seemed like victory erode easily. By midday, Mr. Comey, a Republican appointed by President Obama and confirmed nearly unanimously by the Senate, found himself in its cross hairs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"482\" data-total-count=\"3172\">Encouraged by Mrs. Clinton\u2019s senior aides to reframe the story and make it about Mr. Comey\u2019s actions, liberal groups such as the Congressional Black Caucus demanded that he release more information. Other surrogates were emailed talking points prodding them to deem it \u201cextraordinary that 11 days before the election a letter like this \u2014 with so few details \u2014 would be sent to 8 Republican committee chairmen.\u201d (Ranking Democrats on the committees also received copies.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"333\" data-total-count=\"3505\">Mr. Comey has not publicly commented on the investigation, other than with the letter saying that more emails were being examined. He also wrote an email to F.B.I. employees explaining that he felt he had to inform Congress even though the agency did not yet know \u201cthe significance of this newly discovered collection of emails.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"255\" data-total-count=\"3760\">With Mrs. Clinton leading <a class=\"meta-per\" title=\"More articles about Donald J. Trump.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/topic\/person\/donald-trump?inline=nyt-per\">Donald J. Trump<\/a> in nearly every battleground state, Clinton advisers were emphatic that they would not be thrown off stride. They said they would not change any political strategy, television advertising or campaign travel plans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"425\" data-total-count=\"4185\">For months, the F.B.I. had investigated whether Mrs. Clinton had broken any laws by using a private email server while she was secretary of state. This past summer, Mr. Comey said that Mrs. Clinton had been \u201cextremely careless\u201d by allowing sensitive information to be discussed outside secure government servers, but that the agency had concluded that Mrs. Clinton had not committed a crime. The investigation was closed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"392\" data-total-count=\"4577\">But on Friday, Mr. Comey notified Congress that the agency had discovered emails, possibly relevant to the investigation, that belonged to Mrs. Clinton\u2019s top aide, Huma Abedin. The emails were discovered on the computer of Ms. Abedin\u2019s estranged husband, <a class=\"meta-per\" title=\"More articles about Anthony D. Weiner.\" href=\"http:\/\/topics.nytimes.com\/top\/reference\/timestopics\/people\/w\/anthony_d_weiner\/index.html?inline=nyt-per\">Anthony D. Weiner<\/a>, during <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/10\/29\/us\/politics\/fbi-hillary-clinton-email.html\">a separate investigation<\/a> into allegations that he had exchanged sexually explicit messages with a teenager.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"slideshow-100000004737079\" class=\"media slideshow promo embedded layout-large-horizontal\" data-media-action=\"modal\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/slideshow\/2016\/10\/28\/us\/politics\/on-the-trail-week-of-oct-23.html\"><span class=\"visually-hidden\">Slide Show<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h5 class=\"image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2016\/10\/28\/us\/politics\/28polpix-slide-96CA\/28polpix-slide-96CA-master675.jpg\" \/><span class=\"visually-hidden\">Credit<\/span>Stephen Crowley\/The New York Times<\/h5>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"245\" data-total-count=\"4822\">According to several Clinton advisers, Mrs. Clinton told them overnight and on Saturday that she wanted the campaign to operate normally, not rashly, while pressuring Mr. Comey to dispel any possibility that her candidacy was under legal threat.<\/p>\n<p id=\"story-continues-4\" class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"254\" data-total-count=\"5076\">But the Clinton team also had to deal with a newly emboldened Mr. Trump, who urged voters at a rally on Saturday in Golden, Colo., to oppose Mrs. Clinton because of her \u201ccriminal action\u201d that was \u201cwillful, deliberate, intentional and purposeful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"189\" data-total-count=\"5265\">Handed a new opening against Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Trump used the moment to baselessly claim there had been an internal F.B.I. \u201crevolt\u201d and made a sexually suggestive joke about Mr. Weiner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"265\" data-total-count=\"5530\">\u201cAs Podesta said, she\u2019s got bad instincts,\u201d Mr. Trump said, distorting a comment in one of the thousands of Mr. Podesta\u2019s hacked emails recently released by WikiLeaks. \u201cWell, she\u2019s got bad instincts when her emails are on Anthony Weiner\u2019s wherever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"267\" data-total-count=\"5797\">The paramount fear among Clinton advisers and Democratic officials was that an election that had become a referendum on Mr. Trump\u2019s fitness for office, and that had increasingly seemed to be Mrs. Clinton\u2019s to lose, would now become just as much about her conduct.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"361\" data-total-count=\"6158\">In phone calls, email chains and text messages on Saturday, Clinton aides and allies were by turns confident that the F.B.I. would find nothing to hurt Mrs. Clinton and concerned that the inquiry would nudge demoralized Republicans to show up to vote for down-ballot candidates \u2014 and perhaps even cast ballots, however reluctantly, for the battered Mr. Trump.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"406\" data-total-count=\"6564\">\u201cThis is like an 18-wheeler smacking into us, and it just becomes a huge distraction at the worst possible time,\u201d said Donna Brazile, the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee and a close Clinton ally. \u201cWe don\u2019t want it to knock us off our game. But on the second-to-last weekend of the race, we find ourselves having to tell voters, \u2018Keep your focus; keep your eyes on the prize.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"467\" data-total-count=\"7031\">As much as Clinton advisers stressed that they were not panicking, some of them radiated anger at Mr. Comey, Mr. Weiner and even Mrs. Clinton \u2014 a reflection of 18 months of frustration that her personal decisions about her email practices and privacy were still generating unhelpful political drama. Two Clinton aides, for example, pointedly noted in interviews that it was difficult to press a counterattack without fully knowing what was in Ms. Abedin\u2019s emails.<\/p>\n<p id=\"story-continues-5\" class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"174\" data-total-count=\"7205\">Some prominent Democratic women, meanwhile, were angry that a murky announcement from the F.B.I. might impede the election of the first female president of the United States.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"379\" data-total-count=\"7584\">\u201cIt worries me because it gives the Republicans something to blow up and fan folks\u2019 anger with,\u201d said former Representative Patricia Schroeder of Colorado, who considered a run for the Democratic nomination for president in 1988. \u201cI was on the Judiciary Committee when I was in Congress, and I have never seen the F.B.I. handle any case the way they have handled hers.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"media-100000004737860\" class=\"media photo embedded layout-large-horizontal media-100000004737860 ratio-tall\" data-media-action=\"modal\">\n<div class=\"image\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"media-viewer-candidate\" src=\"http:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2016\/10\/30\/us\/elections\/30campaign3\/30campaign3-master675.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-mediaviewer-src=\"http:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2016\/10\/30\/us\/elections\/30campaign3\/30campaign3-superJumbo.jpg\" data-mediaviewer-caption=\"Donald J. Trump at a rally on Saturday in Golden, Colo. He accused Hillary Clinton of \u201ccriminal action\u201d and urged voters to oppose her.\" data-mediaviewer-credit=\"Stephen Crowley\/The New York Times\" \/><\/p>\n<h5 class=\"media-action-overlay\">\u00a0<span class=\"caption-text\">Donald J. Trump at a rally on Saturday in Golden, Colo. He accused Hillary Clinton of \u201ccriminal action\u201d and urged voters to oppose her.<\/span> <span class=\"credit\"><span class=\"visually-hidden\">Credit<\/span>Stephen Crowley\/The New York Times<\/span><\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"175\" data-total-count=\"7759\">While some voters are undecided, about 20 million Americans have already cast ballots in early voting, and millions more long ago concluded which candidate they would support.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"265\" data-total-count=\"8024\">In a polarized country where many are unwaveringly contemptuous of either Mr. Trump or Mrs. Clinton, the latest development in the email story prompted a mix of shrugs and renewed determination from the left and told-you-so claims of Clinton perfidy from the right.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"228\" data-total-count=\"8252\">\u201cMy mind was made up,\u201d said Luis Luaces, 57, a Florida Republican who expressed little surprise about the Weiner email twist as he cast his ballot for Mr. Trump on Saturday in Miami. \u201cI know what the Clintons are about.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"346\" data-total-count=\"8598\">Democrats also said the development had done little to alter their perceptions. In Charlotte, N.C., Ian Leemans, 35, a Democrat, said he had been at work checking news sites when he saw a flashing banner with Friday\u2019s news. He had already planned to vote early for Mrs. Clinton, but after the news, he felt even more urgency to cast his ballot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"231\" data-total-count=\"8829\">\u201cI thought, O.K., this is going to be an advantage for Trump people to say, \u2018Oh, it is a rigged election,\u2019\u201d Mr. Leemans said. \u201cSo I thought, \u2018Oh, I need to make sure I get up at 8 o\u2019clock on a Saturday and vote.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"232\" data-total-count=\"9061\">Several Republican pollsters and strategists said that given Mr. Trump\u2019s weakness, the F.B.I. inquiry was more likely to help the party\u2019s candidates for the House and Senate than to transform the political fortunes of Mr. Trump.<\/p>\n<p id=\"story-continues-6\" class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"477\" data-total-count=\"9538\">\u201cTo the extent this affects relative enthusiasm among Republicans and Democrats, it helps down-ballot Republicans,\u201d said Whit Ayres, a pollster advising one such candidate seeking re-election, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Referring to Mrs. Clinton\u2019s lead over Mr. Trump in recent polls, Mr. Ayres added, \u201cThe margin at the top of the ticket is large enough so that it probably takes an indictment, rather than an investigation, to move those numbers sufficiently.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"199\" data-total-count=\"9737\">With control of the Senate on a knife\u2019s edge and Democrats wielding Mr. Trump\u2019s unpopularity like a weapon to make gains in the House, Republicans were exultant to at least get off the defensive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"294\" data-total-count=\"10031\">While few Republicans were willing to argue that Mr. Comey\u2019s letter could revive Mr. Trump, they said that the new revelations dovetailed with a message they were already pushing: that Democratic candidates would only enable Mrs. Clinton\u2019s instinct for secrecy and not hold her accountable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"196\" data-total-count=\"10227\" data-node-uid=\"1\">\u201cIt boosts the check-and-balance argument because it is a reminder of all of the things voters hate about Clinton,\u201d said Rob Simms, the executive director of the House Republican campaign arm.<\/p>\n<footer class=\"story-footer story-content\">\n<div class=\"story-meta\">\n<div class=\"story-notes\">\n<p>Reporting was contributed by Yamiche Alcindor, Nick Corasaniti, Matt Flegenheimer, Jack Healy and Thomas Kaplan.<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/10\/30\/us\/politics\/hillary-clinton-emails-fbi-anthony-weiner.html\">http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/10\/30\/us\/politics\/hillary-clinton-emails-fbi-anthony-weiner.html<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/footer>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hillary Clinton Assails James Comey, Calling Email Decision \u2018Deeply Troubling\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53993\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}