Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

We still have time to mess this up!

I really should read my own blog.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

You cannot shame the shameless.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

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Groundhog Day

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Here we go again. From the WaPo:

The FBI will investigate whether additional classified material is contained in emails sent using Hillary Clinton’s private email server while she was secretary of state, FBI director James Comey informed Congressional leaders Friday.

The announcement appears to restart the FBI’s probe of Clinton’s server, less than two weeks before the presidential election, an explosive development that could shape the campaign’s final days.

Sweet Weeping Jeebus running running backwards down the up escalator, will this shit never fucking end?

ETA: What he said…

Reader Interactions

440Comments

  2. 2.

    Keith P.

    Has the FBI ever done this so close to a major election before? AFAIK they have typically postponed investigations like this specifically to avoid looking like a political apparatus.

  4. 4.

    brendancalling

    hi, and welcome to Simple Answers to Simple Questions. Today’s contestant is Ballon Juice’s own Betty Cracker who asks, “Sweet Weeping Jeebus running running backwards down the up escalator, will this shit never fucking end?”

    The answer is “No. It will never end. Ever.”

    Well, that’s our show! We’ll see you next time on [GONNNNNNNNGGGG!] Simple Answers to Simple Questions!

  5. 5.

    TK

    Can Obama just go ahead and issue a blanket pardon to everyone involved in sending or receiving emails to this server so that the FBI has no crime to investigate (whether or not one occurred) and then the GOP can just go fuck right off? Or would that look too partisan.

  6. 6.

    PsiFighter37

    Fuck James Comey. If Obama was a worse person than he is, he would ask for Comey’s resignation on November 9th.

    This is a lesson to Democrats – stop appointing Republicans to anything of importance. They will fucking shiv you because they are all scorpions.

  7. 7.

    dmsilev

    Dropping a letter full of portent but lacking any information 10 days before the election seems like a wild abuse of power, but ymmv.

    Yeah, no shit. Comey is acting like a partisan here. And a particularly underhanded one at that.

  8. 8.

    Betty Cracker

    @Keith P.: Not that I recall. I don’t consider Comey an honest actor in this little drama. At all. I thought his prosecutorial statement when releasing the findings of the last report was highly improper. And now this?

  10. 10.

    Pest Bog Mummy, Frakensteinbeck

    an explosive development that could shape the campaign’s final days.

    No, it can’t. There’s nothing to find because they already looked, and the media was already hyping Email Questions as high as they could go. Since Trump’s team is keeping him from opening his mouth in public, there is nothing left to happen until the election. All the wikileaks and other email shit has become background noise.

  13. 13.

    Urza

    I very much want Obama to blanket pardon both Clintons for everything they’ve ever done to that point so Republican heads explode when they want to investigate. But not till after she wins because it would look way to suspicious before.

  15. 15.

    Renie

    don’t worry our professional non-partisan media will properly examine the facts and report accordingly….in a parallel universe perhaps

  18. 18.

    tobie

    Comey’s letter is addressed only to Republicans. Is it usual to exclude the ranking minority party members of a committee in announcing the reopening of an investigation?

  21. 21.

    Chris

    @PsiFighter37:

    This is a lesson to Democrats – stop appointing Republicans to anything of importance. They will fucking shiv you because they are all scorpions.

    Yep. See also Clinton keeping Colin Powell on as CJCS and Obama keeping Gates around as SecDef.

  22. 22.

    hovercraft

    When is this mofo’s 10 years up?
    You know what, they’ve tried this the last couple of years, the polls all show that she is not trusted, it’s built in. They know that she is going to the next president, this is to try to hold onto the senate. If she gets the senate they know that she will tilt the supreme court, and she will push the courts even further to the left than Obama has. 12 years of straight democratic appointments would undo the Federalists project to create a corporatist judiciary.

  23. 23.

    PsiFighter37

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: No, the media will fucking hype it to make it a big deal. Now Clinton is going to spend the last 10 days playing defense on this shit. This could very well erase chances of picking up the Senate.

    God fucking dammit. Fuck Comey.

  25. 25.

    Joyce H

    Siiiiiigh! Was there ever ANY investigation into the 20+ MILLION emails that the Bush administration illegally stored on RNC servers before they deleted them all? And what with the lying us into a war and outing a CIA agent and committing war crimes and all the stuff that crew got up to, I’d imagine there was plenty of evidence of criminality that went up in smoke there.

  27. 27.

    Hal

    Meh. I get the optics, but I think people who have decided to vote Hillary aren’t going to change their mind. I also think as much glee as Trumpsters will have over this, just as many voters will be side eyeing why Comey would do this now. Also, I’m assuming this is going to be weeks or months of “looking into it”? If anything it just gives Republicans fuel for impeachment once Hillary wins. Again, I can’t wait for this election to be over.

  28. 28.

    Pest Bog Mummy, Frakensteinbeck

    @Betty Cracker:
    I am, because to anyone paying attention this is a nothingburger, and to anyone only vaguely paying attention this is no different from every other ‘Ooh, we’ve got her now!’ moment the media talking heads have been leaping on. If Comey had pulled this before ‘BUT EMAILS!!!’ had resumed after Trump’s self-inflicted wounds, maybe it would be big.

  30. 30.

    Tokyokie

    First Comey investigates and finds nothing. Then he issues a scolding memo explaining that although the investigation found nothing, Clinton is still a shady operative. Then he decides 10 days before the election that he’d better investigate again. Do I have that right? And did Ken Starr get hired on as an FBI consultant since his defenestration at Baylor? This strikes me as perilously close to the constitutional protection against double jeopardy, but then, such niceties are only available to right-wingers, apparently.

  31. 31.

    Tripod

    The White House, and Senate control are foregone conclusions, so….

    The GOP establishment is seeing the bottom falling out on the House, and state races, and flinging shit at the walls.

  33. 33.

    Amir Khalid

    @Rock the World:
    You don’t know that it’s anything at all. Remember the October surprise that Julian Assange was promising and promising, and all the damage it did to Hillary’s campaign? Yeah, me neither.

  34. 34.

    Doug R

    Stop panicking everybody. Did all those Benghaaaaaaazi hearings really gain any traction? People are sick of this and the needle should barely move, even if they find another three emails missclassified.

  35. 35.

    maurinsky

    And the FBI says that any mention of “reopening the investigation” is premature.

    What the fuck ever. If I could vote early, I would have already, I have zero qualms about voting for our first woman president in a week and a half.

  36. 36.

    Cermet

    Since the e-mails, if real, are illegally obtained – they have no legal status; since they cannot be proven to be real, still, no legal status; in sum, useless in all senses of the word and the FBI cannot use them other then saying they can look at them. Even as a joke this doesn’t work. Irrelevant is an understatement. LOL

  38. 38.

    hovercraft

    @Rock the World:
    This is the map I linked to earlier.

    hovercraft says:
    October 28, 2016 at 11:35 am
    My fellow juicers, we have all failed, except srv, shomi and NR. Trump will be our next president.

    Busta Troll
    Posted with permission from GOPocalypse
    Are you ready for some complete silliness?

    Leave it to the deplorables to constantly come up with new, exciting ways to claim Trump is winning. The giant Oompa Loompa himself, claiming the mainstream media is biased and that all polls are wrong because Wikileaks said so is fueling a fire of stupid that is raging across America by way of the internet.

    Now, with the internet itself as an excuse, they have figured out that not only is Agent Orange winning, he winning by a landslide. The proof? an unsourced map with zero details showing Donald Trump with 422 electoral votes based on…wait for it…Facebook activity:
    SEE MAP at LINK

    Based…on…Facebook activity…Because somebody used an interactive map to make this image that says so.

    As a professional liberal troll officially on George Soros’ payroll, I’m anxiously awaiting the moment that Trump sees this, just KNOWING he’ll have no choice but to tweet it. He loves tweeting ridiculous things for my kind to make fun of. It’s so much fun. In preparation, I’ve already begun developing my own unsourced electoral maps full of scientific data from my imagination:
    SEE LINK

    I am shaking in my boots.
    Try harder shomi.

  39. 39.

    Couldn't Stand the Weather

    This is the fourth (?) time the g00pers have investigated these emails. As someone else mentioned a minute ago, they won’t find anything cuz if there were something to be found they would have found it by now.

    These idiots are just doing what they do.
    Starr investigated Whitewater for five years.
    The Congressional g00pers have tried to repeal the ACA 50 times.

    There a line about the definition of insanity, something abou expecting a different result.

  40. 40.

    tobie

    @Tokyokie: Now’s the time to start digging up the dirt on Comey’s work for Ken Starr in the Whitewater investigation. The guy is an unbelievable partisan sleaze. It galls him that another Clinton could be elected President and he is doing everything within his power to stop that. Shithead. Shame on Obama for appointing him.

  42. 42.

    germy

    @Hal: At this point, maybe it’s not so much about preventing her win.
    They will find this useful after she wins.

  45. 45.

    gene108

    @Betty Cracker:

    You can only be FBI director for 10 years, and after that what are your job prospects?

    You know there’s sweet, sweet wing nut welfare waiting to pay you, once you step down, as long as you can show you were a foot soldier for the cause.

    There’s too much money on the table, waiting to be had, for Comey to do anything else.

  46. 46.

    Hildebrand

    I see this as just pissing off Democrats, which will make them even more motivated to vote for Clinton.

  47. 47.

    germy

    @Gin & Tonic: Letter from Comey to congressional republicans. The letter is featured at the Washington Post website.

    In a letter to congressional leaders, Comey said that the FBI had, in connection with an “unrelated case,” recently “learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the Clinton investigation.”

    Comey indicated that he had been briefed on the new material yesterday. “I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation,” he wrote.

  48. 48.

    Amir Khalid

    What seems most likely is that the FBI is just tidying up a loose end in the email investigation. It wouldn’t seem worth an announcement unless they find something incriminating in them emails, which seems highly unlikely.

  49. 49.

    Betty Cracker

    RE: ROCK THE WORLD: This is the troll formerly known as “Right To Rise” and several other lame-ass handles, who has been banned by pretty much everyone who has keys. I drop-kicked the motherfucker, and if he shows up again, I’ll ban his next incarnation. Y’all can answer him if you want, but I won’t guarantee your comments won’t end up in the spam bucket along with the troll.

  50. 50.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @tobie:

    Comey’s letter is addressed only to Republicans. Is it usual to exclude the ranking minority party members of a committee in announcing the reopening of an investigation?

    The Democrats (Committee Vice-chairs, Ranking Members) are all copied on the second page of the letter. It’s linked in the WaPo story.

  53. 53.

    bemused

    Joe Biden is campaigning in Duluth MN now. KBJR tv is streaming it. Hope Joe gives a boost to Rick Nolan.

  55. 55.

    Mnemosyne

    @Hildebrand:

    I re-checked my early voting location and will probably try to go tomorrow if I can wade through all of the CA ballot propositions. Because fuck these guys.

  56. 56.

    Starfish

    A lot of people have voted already and cannot change their votes. October surprises are just not going to be so very effective any more when people have already cast their votes.

  59. 59.

    Judge Crater

    Trump is a horror show, but if Hillary loses it will be her own fault. Good Christ on a hard drive, having her own email server was a blunder of epic proportions. After decades of being ratfucked by the GOP, why would she give them any openings to screw her. Hubris…it’s always hubris. She’s too smart for her own good. This isn’t 20-20 hindsight – her staff was blindsided too.

  61. 61.

    PaulWartenberg2016

    We already have a Far Right wingnut faction foaming at the mouth over “rigged elections” and here we go again with the goddamn emails that have been INVESTIGATED FOR MORE THAN TWO YEARS NOW. /headdesk

  62. 62.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Tokyokie: You forgot that he took the unprecedented step of releasing the investigation notes to the Republican Congress over the summer so that they could look for politically damaging information.

  63. 63.

    Cacti

    I’m dead certain this will turn out differently than the last 25 years worth of investigation the right wing has done on the Clintons.

  65. 65.

    Cermet

    Again, these emails canNOT be used in any court of law – period; either their real and were illegally obtained so cannot be used; or fakes, which again, means useless. Only if they can be proven real can the FBI ask people questions about them (and then use those statements against the person – not the emails) but the emails themselves can never be used. This whole issue is nothing. Hillary isn’t stupid enough to talk about these even to the FBI so, issue is dead in the water. Put a fork in it.

  67. 67.

    Botsplainer

    Wonder how much comity is being expected of liberals this time around should Trump pull it off?

  68. 68.

    Trentrunner

    People need to stop confusing Wikileaks emails with SoS Clinton’s private server, which is what the FBI investigated, and what Comey is referring to today.

    Anyway, it’s all Clinton Rules BS, so might as well conflate. Conflate on!

  70. 70.

    Lee

    Does these emails actually change the space-time continuum?

    Because that is the only way they are pertinent.

  71. 71.

    gene108

    @Doug R:

    Benghazi hearings and e-mail investigations are the reasons Hillary is not beating the Donald by more.

    They set a narrative that Clinton is dishonest, even if people are not worked up about it, the drip, drip, drip of Clinton “scandals” in the headlines does leave an impact on how many voters view her.

  73. 73.

    Redshift

    Meh. They’ll look at some more emails, find nothing because there’s nothing to be found, and re-close the investigation. The media will get excited, but it’s already baked into the election. Republicans have already announced that they’re going to be investigating “the emails” if they hold the House; this isn’t going to change that one easy or the other.

    The only thing that seems highly improper, as others have noted, is making an announcement two weeks before the election. Comey seems to have a habit of making improper (and unnecessary) announcements.

  74. 74.

    JR in WV

    You can count me in with those who want this unethical and immoral dolt of a Republican puppet fired on November 9th, along with the Presidential pardon of both Clintons for any crime or misdemeanor committed before January 19th, 2017. This on the grounds that (add up how many here) investigations have never found any sign of criminal behavior, so this puts an end to the pointless harassment. So as to allow President Clinton to run the nation without pointless and meaningless investigations.

    I’m sure there will be discussions about this, how to position it, etc. They may decide that it would be better to set out the principle that they will not facilitate continuing harassment of public servants, and so no information or testimony will be provided to Republican committees.

    Or maybe it will be moot as Democrats will be in charge of investigations, and they will be requiring testimony from former Republican congress-people. Best case, here, I think.

  76. 76.

    Chris

    @Cermet:

    Depends on what the media does with the nothing – as we saw in September, they could narrow the polls quite a bit with nothing but relentless wall-to-wall 24/7 negative coverage of nothingburgers. Legally speaking, it’s useless. Electorally speaking? Probably, but not certainly.

  78. 78.

    Cermet

    @Trentrunner: I am referring to the wiki-illegal emails; emails that the FBI obtained legally are, of course, usable. Haven’t heard anything about new ones relative to those. Has something been found that is not wiki related?

  80. 80.

    SiubhanDuinne

    IANAL (all too obviously), but wouldn’t double jeopardy or something have kicked in once the earlier investigation was closed with no charges brought against Secretary Clinton? Can the FBI seriously (legally) just keep bringing the same charges again and again?

    (Just heard Trump from his campaign rally. Funny how, after spending a year excoriating the DoJ, FBI, etc., he is now full of praise for their professionalism. “I have a tremendous respect for the facts.” I’d LOL, but I feel almost sick to my stomach about this.)

  81. 81.

    The Moar You Know

    Blame Obama for appointing a Republican in the first damn place.

    @NR: Wholehearted agreement. His major failure, and it’s a bad one, is that he really wanted to trust them. Even after they told him exactly what they were going to do and why.

  82. 82.

    You should know better...

    I have to say, it seems like Comey and the FBi are farked on this one…

    If they DON’T say something and this comes out after the election, they’ll be accused of covering it up to protect Clinton and Republicans will be screaming bloody murder about THAT…

    What do they do? Sit on it and hold on tight?

    Unrelated matter? How do we know this isn’t more Wikileaks bullshit, hand crafted by the Russians?

  83. 83.

    Trentrunner

    Pete Williams on MSNBC confirming that Comey is NOT referring to any Russian-hacked emails.

  85. 85.

    trollhattan

    @D58826:
    No shit. This is a Friday Drop and nasty bit of work. I especially don’t want the Bundy verdict shoved off the front pages, because typical folks have zero idea how dangerous an action that jury committed.

  86. 86.

    sigaba

    @Judge Crater: Shrug. Colin Powell had his own email server and so did the Bush White House. Running government correspondence through private email servers was basically SOP in 2008. I agree it’s not defensible from an ethical standpoint but it’s not “hubris.”

    When people describe Hillary’s behavior as “hubris” or being “too smart for her own good,” more often than not they’re actually describing behavior that men get away with routinely and are rewarded for. It just feels like a fancy PC way of saying she’s uppity.

    BTW Come sure turned out swell didn’t he? As a Republican appointee in a Democratic administration I suppose he was a logical choice but we have to face the fact that he’s an Ashcroft loyalist who’s greatest accomplishment was, at a critical moment, to be slightly less of a police stater than Alberto Gonzalez.

  87. 87.

    Cermet

    @Chris: Yes, dumb people use emotion and not any common sense (which, as we have often discovered, is rare in this country.) I was talking from a legal standpoint. Public opinion, as you correctly point out, is another issue.

  88. 88.

    Tokyokie

    @MisterForkbeard: Oh yeah, that as well. But it strikes me that his memo today is either an explicit admission that his previous investigation was inadequate or an implicit admission that he is using his office for partisan purposes, either of which should be grounds for summary termination. (Of course, doing so would make him an instant martyr to the GOP cause, and bring this shitbag even more attention.) And once the ratfucker leaves office and assumes his wingnut welfare sinecure, he should be investigated to determine whether his extraordinarily improper execution of his official duties involved a quid pro quo.

  89. 89.

    hueyplong

    I agree this is an attempt to secure the House and Senate. A way to stem the tide of despondent GOPers losing the will to go to the polls.

    If there were really something of substance there and people were cleverly gaming the election, today’s first shot would have come earlier in the timeline (at least a couple of weeks ago). And Roger Stone wouldn’t have been able to resist bragging about the hammer about to fall.

    If you want to despair over something, despair of any chance that Republicans are on the verge of shaking off extremism and obstruction. That ain’t happening.

  91. 91.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Redshift: Kurt Eichenwald is noting on Twitter that Comey had a duty to inform Congress pretty much as soon as something came to light, because he had testified to them that the FBI had finished reviewing evidence.

  92. 92.

    hovercraft

    @Judge Crater:
    The server was obviously stupid, but private e-mail was the norm. The media barely bated an eye re. the Bush private e-mails and the millions more that went missing. Clinton Rules mean that this will be the biggest scandal since the last one that fizzled out. The voters have been hearing about the server, e-mails, deleted e-mails and the FBI investigation for over a year and a half now, this will change things only on the margins. Like I said before this will have a bigger effect down ballot than at the presidential level which is already pretty much baked. Comey and the repubes are trying to save the senate.

  94. 94.

    Sam

    The worst part of this is no idea what Comey is referring to…making it almost impossible to forcefully rebut him.

  95. 95.

    piratedan

    if what is stated is accurate about who the letter was sent to and how it ended up being “leaked” to the press… you have to hand it to those bastards…

    sent only to Repubs… check
    vagueness to the point of absurdity…. check
    no indication of what law was broken… check
    no specifics as to whose e-mails they even belong to… check
    what they’re looking at in relation to what… yeh.., right

    they could have just stated that there was a spy at the airport… go find them…

    and naturally, it would be irresponsible to NOT speculate. Those already in the bag for the GOP will have to change their undies because they’ve already soiled the ones that they’re wearing.

  96. 96.

    Pest Bog Mummy, Frakensteinbeck

    @Chris:

    as we saw in September, they could narrow the polls quite a bit with nothing but relentless wall-to-wall 24/7 negative coverage of nothingburgers.

    They were already doing this. The moment Trump shut up, they went back to how terribly sinister Clinton’s emails are. This will just disappear into the noise. Although it would be great if it makes Trump do something publicly stupid again. The man is amazing at shooting himself in the groin.

  98. 98.

    hovercraft

    @Trentrunner:
    Feature not a bug.
    The media and republicans talk about “e-mails and the server” as one “scandal” to make her look as shady as possible.

  100. 100.

    You should know better...

    @trollhattan:

    because typical folks have zero idea how dangerous an action that jury committed.

    I agree completely… this will only encourage dozens of like-minded, loony-tunes “freedom loving” buffoons to continue seizing Federal lands at gun point… until this all culminates some sort of hideous, over-the-top ‘Ruby Ridge’ shoot out…

  101. 101.

    Ruckus

    @Cermet:
    Had a professor in college whose signature statement was “If common sense actually was, more people would have some of it.”

  102. 102.

    catclub

    @Betty Cracker:

    I won’t guarantee your comments won’t end up in the spam bucket along with the troll.

    I think the best way to ban trolls is to have their comments only show up in their own browser, no one else’s. Kind of like the way that
    the ‘your comment is awaiting moderation’ is put on those comments, but without the notice of moderation.

  104. 104.

    Percysowner

    Sweet Weeping Jeebus running running backwards down the up escalator, will this shit never fucking end?

    It will end and I can tell you exactly when. The days after Hillary dies the news media (whatever its form) and all of her enemies will go on about what a wonderful person she was, what a great politician and only then will mention all the good she did in office. They will be the biggest hypocrites ever, but they will do the Hosannas and praise her to the skies.

  105. 105.

    Cacti

    @NR:

    Every poll says there are still a LOT of undecided voters. This could very well put Trump in the White House.

    Sorry sport. Your dream isn’t coming true.

  106. 106.

    catclub

    Nothingburger.

    If Comey wanted to be partisan, all he had to do was recommend prosecution after the previous investigation, and let the Democrats complain that no one else had ever been prosecuted for similar behavior. But he didn’t. He said he was NOT recommending prosecution.

    Lots of twisted knickers.

  108. 108.

    Ella in New Mexico

    Comey indicated that he had been briefed on the new material yesterday. “I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation,” he wrote.

    Given the above situation, Comey could have gone ahead with the plan he states above to review and verify the authenticity of and therefore the significance of any emails the FBI has in it’s possession with no public announcement. Just like you would any other investigation.

    The fact he felt compelled to reassure Chaffetz’s committee and publicly announce his intentions is clearly a desperate attempt at partisan interference in the election and a conspicuous message to them that he supports their agenda to continue to harass Hilary Clinton for the next two years.

    With Lynch at his side, Obama should call his saggy white ass into his office and let him have it. And inform him that regardless of the outcome of the election, his days are now numbered and he needs to pack his crap up and leave that office clean and tidy on November 9th.

  109. 109.

    sigaba

    @piratedan: On a certain level Comey is stuck; even if he thinks this is a nothingburger, that there’s really no evidence of anything, that this is all really preliminary etc. he has to immediately dump everything he knows to Congress, because his office already knows he’s been briefed and if he waited, people in his office would immediately rat him out to the Congressional Republicans and then Congress would have an “FBI coverup of Clinton Emails,” which is legitimately worse than vanilla “Clinton Emails.” You know that people in Comey’s briefing were immediately on their iPhones texting Chaffez about it, it was just up to Comey what kind of scandal it was going to be and if he was going to be implicated or the good soldier.

    This is why you don’t appoint Republicans to things: even when they want to do the right thing they’re constantly being threatened with their job if they try.

    What I wonder is who briefed him about the emails, why were these emails stuck in a hopper until yesterday?

  110. 110.

    D58826

    From Twitter

    Pete Williams has sources saying not about Clinton world w/holding emails. Not about Podesta emails. Not emails from Clinton

    1. So what is it about?
    2. A number of tweets are saying that Comey would look bad if he withheld the info until after the election and there was something incriminating. Which IS BS for any number of reasons. Other than as character assassination the investigation will not be complete till after the election. Since the details are so sparse exactly how does the Clinton camp respond. Assuming there really is something there then impeachment/resignation are always options.

  112. 112.

    hovercraft

    Comey wrote that the FBI does not yet know if the new material is “significant” and did not provide a timeframe for investigating.

    How much you wanna bet that the timeframe is just long enough to count all the ballots? Or if he’s smart he waits till inauguration day to make it look like she pressured him into killing his investigation, so that she has a cloud over her head from the get go.

  113. 113.

    D58826

    @Ella in New Mexico:

    Given the above situation, Comey could have gone ahead with the plan he states above to review and verify the authenticity of and therefore the significance of any emails the FBI has in it’s possession with no public announcement. Just like you would any other investigation

    Also could have slow-walked the whole thing by telling his people to go back and double check everything. He is enough of a political insider that he could have found a way to delay this for 11 days.

  115. 115.

    Jeffro

    Already received word of this via a veritably cackling email from RW-dad…I guess he’s been waiting for his “Democratic Nixon” since 1973 or whoever. Well, I’m not going to waste time trying to defend Hillz, she’s done more than enough in that regard. This is clearly just an attempt to have her stumble into the Oval Office as wounded as possible.

    Let’s GOTV and make sure that if nothing else, she has a Democratic Senate to work with, one that can confirm every single judicial and exec branch appointment

  117. 117.

    hovercraft

    @D58826:
    POLITICO

    In a letter to several congressional committee chairmen, FBI Director James Comey wrote that, “In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to this investigation.”

    Comey said he was briefed on those emails on Thursday and that he “agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation.”
    He did not specify where the additional emails came from.
    Comey wrote that the FBI does not yet know if the new material is “significant” and did not provide a timeframe for investigating.

  118. 118.

    gvg

    @Betty Cracker: Someone pointed out that if his current name rock the world, it would cause an awful lot of our comments to end up eaten. Hard to se how to avoid the word world on a politics blog and pretty had to avoid rock. I have no better suggestion and have a poor understanding of how banning actually works though.

  119. 119.

    hueyplong

    If Comey walks back any of Chaffetz’s language, then Chaffetz will be the story as much as Clinton is.

    Sometimes we underestimate Chaffetz’s stupidity and ham-handed willingness to overstate his case to whiplash effect.

  120. 120.

    WaterGirl

    Me:
    Liked Bill as President, not impressed by Hillary Clinton.
    Thought the email server issue was predictable, an unforced error, really dumb.
    Really did not want her as president, didn’t even want to hear her speak.
    Willing to vote for her as 1000x better than Trump.
    Fast forward through months of email bullshit and everything else that has been thrown at her.
    Witnessed so many lies and so much bullshit thrown at her that it makes me doubt all the things I formerly believed.
    Was impressed with her at debate #2 with the stalker on stage.
    Thought she did really well with at debate #3.
    Voted for her happily enough a couple of weeks ago.

    I think all this new email stuff is partisan bullshit, doesn’t change my opinion of Hillary in the slightest. I suspect I’m not the only one.

  121. 121.

    SenyorDave

    24/7 for the next day or so, IMO its big but not cataclysmic. However, since its so vague the pundits can speculate for the next 11 days.

  122. 122.

    You should know better...

    @sigaba: My point exactly…

    This is where you end up when certain players in the process go way out of their way to politicize everything…

    No matter what some people now do, they’re screwed… and I’m talking about more than just this event…

  123. 123.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @piratedan:

    sent only to Repubs… check

    NO NO NO NO NO. All of the Democratic Vice-chairs and Ranking Members were openly cc’d in the FBI letter.

    This is a (potentially) bad enough situation. Let’s not make it worse by claiming some nefarious behavior on Comey’s part that is easily and immediately refutable.

  124. 124.

    NR

    @Cacti: You guys said over and over that the emails were a big nothingburger and wouldn’t matter. Don’t blame me if it turns out you were wrong.

  125. 125.

    Keith G

    Good Golly there’s a lot of urine soaking the bed sheets here. This is going to turn out okay or at least reasonably okay. This issue has already been litigated in the minds of the voters who matter and their decision seems to be one of not caring a whole lot about this. If there were to be some issue that results from the investigation, there’s no way it could happen with enough lead time to influence the voting even if it were something that significant. Hillary Clinton’s reputation is already baked in the cake. I don’t see how piling on a bit more innuendo or uncertainty is going to change the voting dynamic in the next 10 days.

  126. 126.

    catclub

    @gene108:

    and after that what are your job prospects?

    Louis Freeh did a lot of whitewashing ‘investigations’.
    Penn State, was one, I think.

  129. 129.

    Cacti

    @NR:

    You guys said over and over that the emails were a big nothingburger and wouldn’t matter.

    They are and they haven’t.

    Trump will not be POTUS and you will cry.

  130. 130.

    Vhh

    @Judge Crater: Because using the State servers would have been even worse. They are open to invasion both inside and outside govt, and the GOPers would have had an easier time raising nothingburgers MN

  131. 131.

    Zinsky

    Has anyone heard a well-articulated, cogent explanation of what exactly Hillary did or didn’t do with regard to her e-mails and the servers that hosted them and why that constitutes a crime? I haven’t. WTF? Seriously, WTF? If they can’t even specify what the crime was or is or could have been, how is it a crime?

  134. 134.

    Cacti

    @srv:

    Calling it – the DNC request for an inquiry into their hacks has old clintonemail.com mails in it. That makes any domain/address there a possible target by the hackers to be investigated. If any foreign IPs/servers in the DNC and clintonemail.com match, this becomes an intelligence/FISA case.

    Which means they could now do discovery on whatever the NSA has in their tape bunkers.

    What was lost, is now found. This is a brilliant troll to give Comey the tool he needed.

    Meds, dear.

  135. 135.

    Trentrunner

    Absent more substance before election day, this just gives media/GOP a chance to change the story from Trump Is Still Losing to Clinton Is Still Shifty for a few days.

    Would be surprised if changed any outcome at all.

  138. 138.

    catclub

    @gvg:

    I have no better suggestion and have a poor understanding of how banning actually works though.

    simple version:
    if (Poster name == “rock the world”) then: drop post.

    does not kill any other post with those words or that phrase in it.

  139. 139.

    hueyplong

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I don’t have a problem with seeing Andrea Mitchell get her hopes up one more time before having them dashed for all of us to enjoy on live TV on Nov 8.

  140. 140.

    Chyron HR

    @NR:

    “If”? Woah there, hoss, you have literally spent every day for the past 10 months screaming at us that Clinton is “unelectable”. Isn’t it a bit late to be walking that back to “IF she loses”?

  141. 141.

    NR

    @Chyron HR: Clinton is a terrible candidate. She’s been leading because Trump is even worse.

    Of course, that equation may have just changed. We’ll see.

  144. 144.

    goblue72

    @PsiFighter37: This 1,000 times. Why Obama ever appointed a fricking Bush administration DOJ official and life-long Republican as director of the fricking FBI is beyond me. I realized our President has Chronic Bi-Partisanship Appearance Disease that flares up from time to time, but there are creams for that kind of thing.

  146. 146.

    debbie

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne:

    Someone with a microphone needs to ask GOOPERS if they’re willing to condemn Powell and Rice for doing the same thing as well as condemn Bush / Cheney for not only storing emails on the RNC server to dodge the FOIA, but then destroying them before anyone could see them. And none of that IOKIYAAR shit.

  148. 148.

    Judge Crater

    @hovercraft: I hope this amounts to nothing, but it was an unforced error. It’s not about her being a woman, it’s about political realities. People forget that her health care proposal as a First Lady was a disaster. A disaster caused by her inclination to get the consensus of a chosen few and then expect the political sausage machine to grind out exactly what she wanted. It doesn’t work that way.

    And the friggin stakes are so high. Trump is an existential threat to our country. Four years of that buffoon will smash the economy, our political system and our government. I feel really ill.

  149. 149.

    Gin & Tonic

    You know, I enjoy Twitter in some ways, and actually find it useful for niche food/dining-related info, but based on some of this crap, I don’t think I’ll miss it that much when it dies.

  151. 151.

    Chyron HR

    @NR:

    Hmm, nope, you explicitly told us Clinton would LOSE to Trump, not “only win because Trump is worse”. Why do you need to lie about your previous statements?

  153. 153.

    Pest Bog Mummy, Frakensteinbeck

    @Judge Crater:

    it was an unforced error.

    No, it’s not. If anything, this is proof that it wasn’t. The media has pounced on an unbelievably vague pronouncement that some emails exist that were gotten from somewhere that might be relevant that haven’t been looked at. When you’re looking at this scale of presumption of guilt, no human being is capable of beating it. To chide Hillary for doing something her predecessors did, that the department that’s supposed to sign off on these things signed off on, just because it would be used as a political attack is ridiculous. There is nothing she can do that won’t be used that way, as this letter demonstrates so clearly.

  155. 155.

    Trentrunner

    So the second wave of facts is now out:

    Comey is examining a small number of newly-discovered emails “not from Clinton” out of “an abundance of caution” as part of their investigation (which was never officially closed, so it cannot be “re-opened”), which he is legally obligated to inform Congress of since he had testified to them that the previous investigation was complete.

    That about cover it?

  156. 156.

    Cacti

    Per Kurt Eichenwald:

    3 new e-mails found that “might” be relevant to the investigation.

    None from Clinton.

    Jason Chaffetz played the media like a Stradivarius.

  158. 158.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Joyce H: The answer is “No” to your excellent query. No investigations at all. Poor Secretary Clinton. What a way to lead up to your historic election.

  160. 160.

    Mary G

    Booman:

    The actual letter reads like a typical CYA (cover your ass) memo.

    From the letter:

    “FBI cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant, and I cannot predict how long it will take us to complete this additional work.”

    So it may be nothing at all.

  164. 164.

    MJS

    @D58826: Which are watched by fewer and fewer people with every passing year. And those who do watch are partisans – they already know who they’re going to vote for, so they watch those shows hoping for validation. To the vast majority of voters, this will just fall under the category of “Clinton’s emails” which has already been adjudicated in their minds, and will lead to “more Clinton email issues means I should vote for Trump” in approximately 10-20 voters, total, nationwide.

  165. 165.

    burnspbesq

    @Tokyokie:

    This strikes me as perilously close to the constitutional protection against double jeopardy

    Not even close. Jeopardy doesn’t attach until a trial starts.

  168. 168.

    Fair Economist

    @Judge Crater:

    I hope this amounts to nothing, but it was an unforced error.

    A private server was not an error. It was the safest way for her to keep her non-classified work-related email. All previous SecStates with email had used non-government servers, but with considerable less secure systems.

    There was a mistake in the response. She should never have apologized, because she never had anything to apologize for. She should have said over and over that her email server had been safer than the systems used by previous SecStates, and more importantly, that this is a partisan witchhunt because there was no similar interest shown in the 22 million emails deliberately deleted by Bush administration employees, most unquestionably work-related and many under subpeona even.

  169. 169.

    SenyorDave

    @NR: Of course, that equation may have just changed. We’ll see.

    In your opinion, what would make her worse than Trump, remembering the Trump record::

    1. Openly bragged about being a sexual predator
    2. Has shown himself to be a racist, from the Judge Curiel incident recently to being in charge of dad’s company when the didn’t rent to blacks
    3. Mocked a man with a severe disability
    4. Brags about stiffing contractors as a business model
    5. Serial adulterer who is proud of it
    6 Birther for five years AFTER Obama showed his birth certificate
    7. Pervert – he used to walk backstage at the Miss Teen USA pageant while the girls were changing (some contestants were as young as 15!)
    8. Has indicated he might not accept election results
    9. Slapped his name on a sham “university” that has a business model where they target desperate people, the elderly, anyone who is foolish enough to pay for Trump’s “words of wisdom”

    Please explain what Clinton could have done to make her worse than tis racist, sexist perverted pig of a man.

  170. 170.

    jk

    Fuck those smarmy, sleazy scumbags Chris Matthews and Joe Scarborough who will use this story to try and pull Hillary Clinton down.

  173. 173.

    Calouste

    @Cacti:

    Jason Chaffetz played the media like a Stradivarius.

    More like he is beating them like a three-penny drum. More accurate about:
    – the worth of the media
    – the skill needed to play them
    – the skills Chaffetz possesses

  175. 175.

    Trentrunner

    AP Breaking: The emails Comey refers to in his letter “did not come from Clinton’s private server.”

    What the actual fuck? How is this related to this investigation?

  176. 176.

    Keith G

    @NR: Well, it seems that even though the greater email issue should have been handled better, the voters really aren’t penalizing Hillary Clinton for those past indiscretions. The vast majority of voters seem to be able to hold two thoughts in their head at the same time. One is that Hillary Clinton should have acted better in regards to emails. Second is that HRC likely the most able person who is eligible to hold the presidency.

  178. 178.

    Cacti

    @Calouste:

    More like he is beating them like a three-penny drum. More accurate about:
    – the worth of the media
    – the skill needed to play them
    – the skills Chaffetz possesses

    Fair enough.

  179. 179.

    germy

    @Calouste:

    3 emails? How long could it possibly take to investigate them, and why wasn’t that already completed last night?

    Because they want drip drip drip…

  181. 181.

    D58826

    @hovercraft: True but the statement is so vague it can be interested a number of different ways. If you are going to drop this 11 days before the election then some level of detail would be nice. Comey had to know that it would become apolitical bombshell so if it really isn’t related to Hillary he should have said so.

  183. 183.

    Mike in NC

    Months ago didn’t Bernie Sanders say something to the effect, “We’re tired of hearing about the goddamn emails”?

    More GOP bullshit and people are going to respond accordingly.

  184. 184.

    SFAW

    A) I see it as Comey’s attempt, in part, to erase Junior G-Man Louis Freeh from the record books as “FBI Director Who Hated the Clintons the Most.” He’s got a lot of catching-up to do, but I’m sure he’ll make up for temps perdu.
    B) Is “unrelated” Comey-speak for a WikiLeaks drop? Or for him telling his minions “OK, I had to eat shit about the last investigation — go out and find me SOMETHING, ANYTHING, that I can use to fuck with Hillary”?
    C) Curious timing. Two weeks ago, it would have been dropped within 24 hours, due to Deadbeat Donnie’s “winning bigly” at the Debate. Today, it’ll give the MSM morons something to screech about for 72 hours.
    D) If Hillary’s campaign has any more killer oppo on the Ferret-Headed Shitgibbon, now would be a good time to get it out there. Not so much to change the trajectory of the race, but to get the MSM morons to get distracted by a newNewNEW Shiny Object. (Although I guess there’s a risk of the MSM ignoring the new oppo, because it’s not aimed at Hitlary.)

    Fucking Comey. He should kill himself out of shame.

  185. 185.

    Trentrunner

    So, Clinton didn’t send the email and it didn’t come from her private SoS server?

    Again, how is this relevant?

  186. 186.

    PsiFighter37

    A.P. now reporting that the emails did not come from her private server.

    If they didn’t, then what the hell is this all about?

    If it really is nothing, it will make the GOP look like a bunch of idiots. The media, too…

  188. 188.

    laura

    @Joyce H: no. No there wasn’t any effort to investigate the millions of bush missing emails or any other republican using a non-gov email system.

  189. 189.

    Betty Cracker

    @debbie: It wasn’t me who banned him originally. I’m just enforcing an existing ban, which I believe he got for spewing a bunch of racist crap. But regardless, he wouldn’t be any fun on November 9 because he won’t show up when Trump loses. He’s kinda like NR in that way — only shows up when there’s negative news to gloat about.

  190. 190.

    Sloane Ranger

    To be fair, a number of CNN commentators have raised the timing of the announcement and the paucity of information within it as issues and questioned whether the FBI is being politicised.

    The point is, once it’s out there, the media has to report it.

    What I don’t understand is, Trump has just as many potential legal issues, the upcoming sexual assault case of a 13 year old as just one example. Why can’t a pro-Clinton PAC or someone start hammering on these as hard as the Repukes are at the e-mails?

    I listened to that man rejoicing in this news just now and still feel physical sick as well as dirty!

  191. 191.

    Cacti

    @Betty Cracker:

    It wasn’t me who banned him originally. I’m just enforcing an existing ban, which I believe he got for spewing a bunch of racist crap. But regardless, he wouldn’t be any fun on November 9 because he won’t show up when Trump loses. He’s kinda like NR in that way — only shows up when there’s negative news to gloat about.

    Speaking of…

    Now that the story is already unraveling, NR seems to have exited stage right.

  192. 192.

    D58826

    @Trentrunner: then why didn’t he say so in the letter?

    At this point it doesn’t matter what the FBI is investigating. The next 11 days will be optics, unseemliness, dark clouds, raises questions, etc etc etc.

  194. 194.

    Pest Bog Mummy, Frakensteinbeck

    @Betty Cracker:
    To my considerable surprise, NR has shown up a couple of times to express scorn for Trump when the polls turned against him. It’s only 90% of the time that NR’s posts consist of ‘piss on whatever democrat is being talked about.’

    EDIT – @Sloane Ranger:

    Why can’t a pro-Clinton PAC or someone start hammering on these as hard as the Repukes are at the e-mails?

    They do, although for TV commercials ‘quote Trump being vile’ seems to be the preferred (and I have to admit, brilliant) tactic.

    National journalists aren’t listening. It took something unbelievably salacious to get them to interrupt their obsessive hatred of Hillary Clinton. Hell, they tried to spin all the debates as Trump wins, but the public wasn’t having it.

  195. 195.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    @debbie:

    They need to let NPR know. They’re still talking about the server.

    NPR, like Mrs Greenspan, won’t let facts get in the way of their eternal fixation on Clinton’s emails.

    Reason #1352 to a) never give money to public radio, and b) never listen to NPR.

  197. 197.

    Amir Khalid

    @Cacti:
    If these three emails are not from or to Hillary, I am inclined to think that this is going to be the next big October nothingburger. Indeed, if there was time for the FBI to brief its director about them, there was probably time to finish reviewing them already, nd to decide of there was any incriminating content.

  200. 200.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    From an earlier post that never made it out of moderation hell:

    Given how the story is already unravelling, looks like the Villagers had an Emily Latella moment except they’ll never actually say “Nevermind”.

    Once again, the only satisfying thing about a Trump presidency would be the televised executions of our elite national press members.

  202. 202.

    Kay

    Ugh. That press conference Comey gave was completely out of line and this is worse.

    Tell me again why everyone worships this guy? He’s either really bumbling or a political hack.

  204. 204.

    randy khan

    @Chris:

    Powell had not announced his party preference at the time he was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and it would have been highly unusual for him to have done so.

  205. 205.

    Cacti

    @Amir Khalid:

    If these three emails are not from or to Hillary, I am inclined to think that this is going to be the next big October nothingburger. Indeed, if there was time for the FBI to brief its director about them, there was probably time to finish reviewing them already, nd to decide of there was any incriminating content.

    I’ve got to say that this looks like the fastest fizzling of a “new OMG Clinton Scandal” that I’ve ever seen.

  207. 207.

    redshirt

    @comrade scott’s agenda of rage: Agreed, but I think it’s easy to forget that we live in a bubble of our own here. Whenever I tell someone that NPR stands for “Nice Polite Republicans” they scoff at me. The same with any insinuation that MSNBC is not the liberal tv news network.

    We’re much more distrustful of the media than most folks.

  208. 208.

    Kay

    I’m just going to file this under “nothing an ordinary person can do”

    If they want to elect Trump they’ll try and they’ll either succeed or fail. That’s always been true. Not one thing anyone outside the inner circle can do about it.

  209. 209.

    Botsplainer

    @comrade scott’s agenda of rage:

    I’d actually have a pay-per-view party for the Trump Administration execution of our elite national punditry.

    Hearing Mark Halperin scream for his life while flinching and cringing would make the following cannibal wars amid the radioactive rubble nearly worth it.

  210. 210.

    Lurker Extraordinaire

    Let’s see: email server “issues” when several Repub SOS’s had the same set up vs. a straight up fascist.

    Are people fucking serious with this shit? Not even a difficult choice to mark….

  211. 211.

    sacrablue

    My wild guess is that this has to do with communication between Huma and Anthony Weiner. Supposedly, DOJ is investigating Weiner’s communications, so they probably are looking at something Huma messaged or emailed to Weiner, tangentially mentioning the State Department.

  212. 212.

    germy

    Matthew Miller has been interesting on the subject:

    I wrote a piece in July on why Comey’s public comments about Clinton were such an inappropriate abuse of power.

    He flagrantly violated DOJ rules with his press conference. Then went on to break new ground discussing details of the case to Congress…

    Followed by quickly releasing FBI 302’s, something they rarely do, and which I doubt they will do for future high-profile cases.

    Each time, he either violated or seriously stretched DOJ rule & precedent. Press conference was the original sin, & it begat the rest.

    But today’s disclosure might be worst abuse yet. DOJ goes out of its way to avoid publicly discussing investigations close to election.

    Not just public discussion either. Often won’t send subpoenas or take other steps that might leak until after an election is over…

    Why? Because voters have no way to interpret FBI/DOJ activity in a neutral way. Who is the target of an investigation? What conduct?

    This might be totally benign & not even involve Clinton. But no way for press or voters to know that. Easy for opponent to make hay over.

    Which takes us back to the original rule: you don’t comment on ongoing investigations. Then multiply that times ten close to an election.

    For whatever reason (& there are many theories), Comey continues to ignore that. But only for Clinton.

    FBI is undoubtedly investigating links between the Russian hack, Manafort, & the Trump campaign. But aren’t commenting on it. Good!

    They shouldn’t be commenting on investigations! But that should apply to all. Instead Clinton consistently treated differently/worse.

  215. 215.

    Wapiti

    @PsiFighter37:

    This is a lesson to Democrats – stop appointing Republicans to anything of importance. They will fucking shiv you because they are all scorpions.

    And anything that you think is so unimportant that you could appoint a Republican to do it should be removed from the budget as a demonstrated cost savings.

  217. 217.

    Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap

    Olberman:

    Very simple: FBI Director Comey needs to clarify – today – that these are not emails from, or withheld by, Clinton, or resign immediately

  218. 218.

    OGLiberal

    NY Times reporting that these new emails came up during the investigation of Weiner’s sexting.

  220. 220.

    PsiFighter37

    @sacrablue: You are right – NYT now saying it is from a device from Huma and Carlos Danger.

    WTF is this even about? Did Weiner say ‘Hillary’ in an email and it got flagged?

  223. 223.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Meanwhile, the Zombie-Eyed Granny Starver had this to say:

    “Yet again, Hillary Clinton has nobody but herself to blame. She was entrusted with some of our nation’s most important secrets, and she betrayed that trust by carelessly mishandling highly classified information. This decision, long overdue, is the result of her reckless use of a private email server, and her refusal to be forthcoming with federal investigators. I renew my call for the Director of National Intelligence to suspend all classified briefings for Secretary Clinton until this matter is fully resolved.”

    FFS, ZEGS.

  224. 224.

    hovercraft

    Matthew Miller
    ‏@matthewamiller
    Comey refused to even tell Congress if FBI was investigating Trump camp for Russia hack, but regular updates on Clinton are apparently A-ok.

    Norman Ornstein
    ‏@NormOrnstein
    What an utterly reckless and irresponsible act by Comey. No context, no recognition of explosiveness of impact. One paragraph. Outrageous

    Michael Cohen
    ‏@speechboy71
    This really does show how the FBI & Comey in particular have allowed their actions to be politicized this election year.

    Sam SteinVerified account
    ‏@samsteinhp
    Pete Williams has sources saying not about Clinton world w/holding emails. Not about Podesta emails. Not emails from Clinton.

  226. 226.

    MomSense

    Fucking Weiner sexting strikes again? WTF?

    I’m about ready to call for a ban on all boys until we figure out what is going on.

  231. 231.

    hueyplong

    Glad to see that the Zombie Eyed Granny Starver waited for days to comment, the way he did after release of the Hollywood Access video.

    Upside to all this is that if this gets walked back for real, it might innoculate Hillary against any further “disclosures” between now and Nov 8.

  232. 232.

    Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap

    Rick Wilson says that there will be an October surprise for Trump next weekend, stay tuned….

  235. 235.

    Sherparick

    @Keith P.: He is covering his butt. If he did not disclose it now and when it came up after the election, and it is definitely going to show up, he would get fried by Republicans and the media. The original sin was when she and her principal aides failed to turn over the e-mails when she left State at the end of 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/03/us/politics/hillary-clintons-use-of-private-email-at-state-department-raises-flags.html She and her chief advisors, Mills and Abedin, appear completely oblivious about e-mails, their durability, and security issues (although Wikileaks is giving them a hard lesson). Then they aggravated the mistake by going to ground the last two years and letting everything come out in drips and drabs.

  236. 236.

    trollhattan

    @MomSense:

    I’m about ready to call for a ban on all boys until we figure out what is going on.

    Heh. We’ll still tease you about girl cooties through the FEMA camp fence, you know.

  238. 238.

    Wapiti

    @Major Major Major Major: I think that’s true, with two caveats: the Democratic Party didn’t do itself or its bench favors by filling DoD with a Republican almost half the time (McNamara, Cohen, Gates, Hagel) and going forward, finding non-nutso Republicans will be harder.

  240. 240.

    Brachiator

    @redshirt:

    Agreed, but I think it’s easy to forget that we live in a bubble of our own here. Whenever I tell someone that NPR stands for “Nice Polite Republicans” they scoff at me. The same with any insinuation that MSNBC is not the liberal tv news network.

    We’re much more distrustful of the media than most folks.

    This is quite funny. There is not much healthy distrust of the media here. There are the same complaints about the media that conservatives make, only with the enemies and usual suspects reversed.

    @Kay:

    I’m just going to file this under “nothing an ordinary person can do”

    If they want to elect Trump they’ll try and they’ll either succeed or fail. That’s always been true. Not one thing anyone outside the inner circle can do about it.

    This almost makes me nostalgic for the gentlemen’s agreements, smoked filled rooms and back room deals of earlier generations.

    The Republicans have to know that Trump would be a disaster as president. He is ignorant, vindictive, and capricious. They could never be sure that he would go along with their agenda, and who knows what might happen if he was in power and openly appealed to his core supporters to overthrow the government to back him up. They should be working out some compromise with Clinton, some promises, some exchange of prisoners.

    Instead we have this nonsense in which the Republicans are happy to see Clinton be brought down, or neutralized. American democracy. It had its moments. What’s next?

  242. 242.

    retr2327

    @JR in WV: Well, someone else has probably already raised this point, but let me offer this qualified defense of Comey’s actions: just imagine the absolute sh*tstorm that Trump and republicans would raise if it came out in a few days, or after the election, that there had been “new developments” in the email investigation and Comey had not promptly updated them; there’d be calls for impeachment, revolution, new elections, etc. (although we may get all that anyway . . .).
    That said, the manner in which he provided the update, and the complete lack of any context or explanation, is unfortunate, to put it mildly, and likely to be revised w/in 48 hours.

  243. 243.

    hovercraft

    U.S. stocks erase gains after news of FBI probe breaks

    A bullet from the bloomberg story on:
    “FBI Reopens Clinton E-Mail Probe 11 Days Before Election”

  245. 245.

    trollhattan

    BTW, anybody who thinks it’s we who are overreacting should wander over to Wall Street. IMO it’s a good tell that they want Trump kept well, well far away from the handle of anything but his gold-plated toilet. (And no, that does not mean Killery is “in their pocket.”)

  246. 246.

    Sherparick

    @SiubhanDuinne: There is no evidence that she mishandled “highly classified information.” The only clearly classified information was classified “confidential,” the lowest level. What a wuss.

  248. 248.

    NoraLenderbee

    @sigaba:

    When people describe Hillary’s behavior as “hubris” or being “too smart for her own good,” more often than not they’re actually describing behavior that men get away with routinely and are rewarded for.

    Yup. I think this also applies when people describe the Clintons as “elites” who “think they are above the rules and can do whatever they want.” They’re saying that those uppity hicks think they’re as good as the Bushes and the Romneys.

  252. 252.

    Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap

    I don’t give a fuck if she sent every email to Chairman Mao, I’d still vote for her.

  255. 255.

    SW

    There are no undecided voters. Anyone who supports Clinton doesn’t give a rat’s ass about her e-mails. “Enough with the e-mails”. Anyone who supports Trump is excited about the implications. In the end it will just be a device to sustain interest and suspense regarding the outcome of the election. The only winners are the media companies who will continue to reap windfalls both from the advertising and the coverage. They need a cliff hanger to sustain their audiences.

  258. 258.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Jeesus Keerist. Rep. Peter King is just grabbing huge handfuls of shit and flinging them in every direction. “Well, it could be about emails between Obama and Clinton. That’s one of the suggestions I’ve heard.” Earlier, Jan Brewer was no better, and arguably worse.

  260. 260.

    D58826

    OT and a ray of sunshine – SCOTUS will hear the case of the transgender boy from Va. according to CNN

  262. 262.

    AnonPhenom

    All Clinton surrogates slated for Sunday talking head shows should review the Abbot & Costello ‘Who’s on First’ comedy bit in preparation.
    Who’s emails? Hillary’s?
    The Russian hacked emails?
    Podesta emails?
    Clinton Foundation emails?
    Wikileak emails?

    Screw ’em! Have some fun with it!

  264. 264.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Another Scott:

    This tweet in particular is excellent and on point:

    Journalist Twitter is full of shock at FBI behavior here. That same shock should make it into news reports; not doing so misleads public

  265. 265.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    Lincoln Lincoln I’ve been thinkin’
    What a good world this might be,
    If the men were all transported
    Far beyond the Northern Sea.

  266. 266.

    Poopyman

    @chopper: Died down?
    Still on WaPo website:

    FBI to take new ‘investigative steps’ on Clinton emails

    CNN:

    FBI Reviews New Emails

    With Hillary’s picture

    And while the NY Times does have an overarching headline about them being Weinergrams, it still has:

    F.B.I. Review of New Emails Revives Issue in Election

  267. 267.

    Trentrunner

    Podesta just released a statement saying, basically, “FBI: Put Up or Shut Up. Release the details of what you’re examining. Also, WTF with doing this 11 days before a national election?”

  269. 269.

    Amir Khalid

    @Poopyman:
    Maybe Anthony Weiner sent his dick pictures to his wife’s boss. Because otherwise, why is Hillary involved in this at all?

  270. 270.

    Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap

    @Trentrunner: Just saw that, also, Every Motherfucking Democrat on the planet should be screaming from Comey’s resignation by COB today.

  271. 271.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    So, the emails:

    – Weren’t from HRC’s private server;
    – Weren’t from HRC;
    – Weren’t previously withheld.

    Everyone get back to work.

  272. 272.

    Elizabelle

    @hovercraft: getting slapped by Norm Ornstein should get under Comey’s skin. Ornstein is a straight shooter, one of the few people genuinely respected in Washington. When you have drawn Ornstein’s attention, you have screwed up.

  274. 274.

    Trentrunner

    @Amir Khalid: My guess is that, while investigating Weiner’s sexts and emails, the FBI found 3 emails from Huma that was part of a chain that included Hillary. They’re potentially connected, so Comey was obligated to include them.

  275. 275.

    Trentrunner

    @Elizabelle: Not according to Brit Hume, who just Twittered to Ornstein that he was a “leftist” and everyone knows it.

    Not even kidding.

  277. 277.

    Peale

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: WOULD SOMEONE EXPLAIN WHAT THE HELL THIS IS ABOUT THEN? (Sorry to shout, but I’m confused, and because I’m getting older, I get worried during states of confusion that I might be losing my mind.) IT WAS SO MUCH BETTER IN 1992!

  278. 278.

    Trentrunner

    Pete Williams on MSNBC now: Confirms device/emails’ source is FBI investigation of Weiner. Unclear whose device (Huma vs. Anthony) it was.

  279. 279.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    T. Becket AdamsVerified account
    ‏@BecketAdams
    As a woman inches closer to the White House, news is dominated by sexual misconduct of her opponent, her husband and her aide’s husband.

  280. 280.

    Poopyman

    NYT front page says

    * The F.B.I. said it had uncovered new emails related to
    the investigation into whether Hillary Clinton or her
    aides had mishandled classified information.
    * The emails were discovered after the F.B.I. seized
    devices belonging to Huma Abedin and her husband,
    Anthony Weiner, officials said

  281. 281.

    WaterGirl

    @Another Scott: How are we to know who PK is? Paul Krugman? Maybe Peter King? I do not get the love for acronyms that everyone does not know. (yes, I’m feeling cranky.)

  282. 282.

    trollhattan

    If anything good comes out of this, let it be John Oliver resurrecting the Carlos Danger music and dance move Sunday. You owe us, Oliver!

  283. 283.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @Peale:

    I can’t help you out. White men are losing all their shit and making a mess all over the place.

  284. 284.

    Sloane Ranger

    @Major Major Major Major: Just exercising the freedom of expression that is my birthright as an English woman!

    Seriously, I am watching CNN and the more they learn the more the talking heads are describing Comey’s actions as unprecedented. one has just complained that he has injected the FBI into an already fraught election.

    If the intention was to hurt Hilary I think this could rebound on Comey.

  286. 286.

    liberal

    Don’t like Clinton much at all. But Trump is Cthulhu.

    That all being said, put me in the camp of “This is a nothingburger.”

    Whether Comey should have kept his yap shut isn’t so clear, as people mentioned above.

    But…I really really really don’t get why Democratic presidents insist on appointing Republicans to top posts.

    Yeah, as someone pointed out, Gates was OK (OK = not a bloodthirsty neocon psychopath). But there were no qualified Dems?

  289. 289.

    Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap

    @liberal:

    But…I really really really don’t get why Democratic presidents insist on appointing Republicans to top posts.

    Really that shit has just got to stop.

  290. 290.

    Calouste

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne:

    So, the emails:

    – Weren’t from HRC’s private server;
    – Weren’t from HRC;
    – Weren’t previously withheld.

    Everyone get back to work.

    Except for Corney, he can go to the dole queue.

  291. 291.

    Jeffro

    3 emails
    Not to/from Clinton
    Not on her blessed server

    THIS is what the hopes of the Trump Old Party rest upon…unbelievable.

    Looking forward to Payback Time once Hillz takes the oath…I hope she has a first 100 days that fills the entire judiciary (INCLUDING SCOTUS) with people so far Left they can’t walk straight.

    PBO, do your part, sir: Pull the Garland nom on Election Day

  299. 299.

    mark k

    This is less than 24hrs after Obamas AG reassigned FBI agents from NYC over the Garland trials.
    Obvious payback by Comey

  300. 300.

    dogwood

    @liberal:
    Obama didn’t appoint Gates; he just left him in place. And given the crashing of the economy in the middle of two wars, I don’t think that was a bad call.

  301. 301.

    Matt McIrvin

    You know, there’s going to be a lot of fast-breaking crap like this that is probably nothing over the next 10 days. We need to maintain some emotional equilibrium.

  306. 306.

    Trentrunner

    @Major Major Major Major: I thought the question was “Why was the FBI investigating Weiner’s emails/texts?”

    But if the question is “What is the connection between Weiner’s communication and the Clinton SoS private server investigation?” the answer is Huma.

  307. 307.

    burnspbesq

    Any lingering doubt has now been erased. Comey is seeking the Republican nomination for Governor of New Jersey in 2017. This is a favor he hopes will be repaid next year.

  308. 308.

    germy

    Why did FBI Director James Comey shock Washington on Friday with an announcement that the FBI “has learned of the existence of emails” related to Hillary Clinton’s private email server, and what does it mean?

    The truth is Comey didn’t have a choice. Because the new information followed his sworn testimony about the case, Comey was obligated by Department of Justice rules to keep the relevant committees apprised.

    Under oath Comey had stated that the bureau had completed its review. Once he learned that there were new emails that required examination, Comey had to notify Congress that he had to amend his testimony because it was no longer true.

    Newsweek

  311. 311.

    sigaba

    @Matt McIrvin:

    You know, there’s going to be a lot of fast-breaking crap like this that is probably nothing over the next 10 days.

    There’s a $600 billion industry that has its energies focused completely on keeping everyone as agitated as physically possible all the time. We do what we can.

  312. 312.

    Sloane Ranger

    @Major Major Major Major: Let’s keep our fingers crossed. I like the put up or shut up tack the Clinton campaign is taking. Anyone going on the Sunday talk shows should repeat what’s in the statement and then refuse to be drawn into speculation, saying they want to talk about the issues.

  313. 313.

    redshirt

    @Matt McIrvin: I like to think I’m pretty rock steady, but jeez does this election have me nervous. I go from NOTHING CAN STOP US NOW to Welp! At least we’ll hold the Presidency.

    I have no doubts Hillary will win. It’s the Senate I’m far more concerned about. And every little thing matters.

  314. 314.

    PaulWartenberg2016

    It’s turning out the email bruhaha is actually about Anthony Weiner’s investigation.

    It’s turning out FBI Director Comey has no idea how to write letters to Congress to spell things out in a clear, concise and coherent manner.

    It’s turning out this is another goddamn attempt at an October Surprise that’s going to turn into another goddamn useless headache.

    “Fortunately I keep my feathers numbered, for, for just such an emergency” – James Comey after getting caught in the wringer for this shit.

  315. 315.

    MJS

    @germy: The issue is with “emails that required examination.” Simply because Clinton had an email issue does not mean that any and all emails from anyone connected to her “require examination” especially given that said emails did not come from her server. It’s BS, pure and simple, regardless of what Newsweek has to say.

  317. 317.

    Another Scott

    @WaterGirl: Sorry about that. When things are ambiguous I assume people will “hover” their mouse pointer over the link (or equivalently (what is it, long-press?) on your phone) to see what the link is. It says explicitly in the link that it’s Paul Krugman’s Twitter feed.

    HTH!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  319. 319.

    dogwood

    @MJS:
    I’m actually thinking about retreating into a personal “cone of silence” for the duration. I pretty much did that during August and part of Sept. It was great. There are probably a few Trump scandals I missed, but I can always read the book or watch the movie when this effing thing finally ends.

  324. 324.

    MattF

    Welp, I wuz just goin’ about my biznez, downloading and installing software upgrades, upgrading some hardware, trying things out to see if they still all worked together… And then, stupidly, brought up the WaPo front page and saw Cillizza’s article. Wasted half an hour demonstrating to myself it was all bullshit and getting exceedingly pissed off. What, exactly, was the point of all that?

  325. 325.

    MJS

    I want Hillary to spend the next 11 days sending emails that say things like, “Jason Chaffetz told me he likes to eat his own boogers. That’s disgusting.” And, “Paul Ryan said the pages on his copy of “Atlas Shrugged” stick together. Gross!”. Then let Comey release those emails.

  328. 328.

    eric

    Rule number 1 of a good attorney: never over promise and under deliver. Comey is 0 for 2.

    (Rule 2 is never ask a question you dont know the answer too, but that is sometimes moderated by the “there is no good answer rule”)

  329. 329.

    Bobby Thomson

    Meh. I really don’t see this changing any minds whatsoever. So Huma Abedin accessed work email from her home computer? Big fuckin’ deal. Anyone partisan enough to assume the worst from this was already voting Republican.

  330. 330.

    MattF

    @Major Major Major Major: Oh, it’s all a disaster for Clinton, she’s having a catastrophic week, yadda yadda.

    ETA: Also, WaPo touts new poll, characterizes gap between Trump and Clinton as ‘slight’. Head hits desk.

  331. 331.

    WaterGirl

    @Another Scott: Yeah, I never think to do that. I’ll try to remember. As I said, I am feeling pretty cranky about this new round of bullshit from Comey. And i never got lunch.

    Seriously, sometimes I feel like more than half of the moms in the world forgot to teach their kids that if you win by cheating, it doesn’t count as a win.

    Maddening to play by the rules and do what’s right when the other side doesn’t care about that in the least.

  334. 334.

    Peale

    So my take away from this is that whenever the FBI investigates anyone connected to the Clintons for the next 8 years and find an e-mail from her, or her name in an e-mail, or an e-mail where she has been copied, they will “reopen” the investigation to see if it was one of the “missing” e-mails. And the reason Comey will send these letters and only CC the the Democrats is that they’ve requested these special updates. So basically, the investigation will never end. Good to know.

  338. 338.

    FlipYrWhig

    @MattF: IMHO the media still has no idea that a 52-48 election result is what passes for decisive these days and 55-45 would be an epoch-defining blowout. And also IMHO there’s no way with polling to tell 50-50 (squeaker!) from 55-45 (landslide!).

  341. 341.

    Betty Cracker

    Anthony Weiner should just donate his fucking organs. Not including the one that’s caused all the trouble, of course — I mean heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, etc. What a beyond worthless piece of shit he is.

  343. 343.

    Sloane Ranger

    So it looks like Human Abedin? sent work e-mails to the home computer she shared with Weiner. WTF has that got to do with Hilary? Speaking as a former Brit civil servant it’s a breach of security and a disciplinary offence (although everyone did it). The point is that Huma did it, not Hilary and it would have happened regardless of whether a State Department or private server was used.

  345. 345.

    Jeffro

    @Pest Bog Mummy, Frakensteinbeck:

    He’s not going to pull the nomination. Obama put Garland forward because he thinks Garland is the best candidate for the job.

    I hear you, I’m pretty certain he won’t either…but circumstances change, and I can think of no better way to pay back the obstructionism than seeing NFLTG Obama calling a Rose Garden press conference saying he’s come around to McConnell’s logic, and now that “the people have spoken and elected Hillary Clinton, she should be the one to fill the vacancy.”

  346. 346.

    SenyorDave

    How can anyone not think that this is 100% political on Comey’s part? There were many different ways to frame this and his letter is pretty much the most damaging way he could find in terms of how it makes Clinton look. Assuming this is the biggest nothing burger of all, its pretty damaging. Comey – biggest political mistake of the Obama administration.

    I hope to hell something additional is out there on Trump, maybe they can get the woman who claims Trump raped her when she was 13 to come forward.

  348. 348.

    SenyorDave

    @Betty Cracker: I personally think Clinton should have cut Huma loose when he did again, she had stuck be her man but it backfired. Its nice to be loyal, but Huma showed poor judgment in staying.

  350. 350.

    Betty Cracker

    @SenyorDave: I think it’s kinda admirable that Clinton didn’t kick Abedin to the curb over Weiner’s malfeasance. If anyone understands what it’s like for a wife to get shit dumped over her head for her husband’s actions, it’s Hillary Clinton. As far as I’m concerned, Abedin’s bad taste in men shouldn’t disqualify her from government work. Now, if she emailed classified docs to a computer she shared with that worthless piece of shit, that’s something else. But we don’t have any evidence of that. This strikes me as partisan undie-sniffing by Comey.

  351. 351.

    WaterGirl

    I want to know just how pissed Obama is that Comey has so clearly put his thumb on the scales. Not just once, but twice. And right before the election. He should be brought up on ethics charges. Between last night’s verdict and this total abuse of power today… I have to stop feeling so angry.

  353. 353.

    SenyorDave

    @Betty Cracker: I feel at a certain point the connection to Weiner is damaging in of itself, certainly politically, and potentially literally from a security standpoint. Weiner has to be pathological to have thrown away such a promising career. Loyalty is admirable to a point, but after the second time maybe you cut your losses. And I agree with you on Weiner’s other organs.

  354. 354.

    Peale

    @SenyorDave: She did cut Huma loose. I can see why she kept her on. A lot like the targeting of Susan Rice, there was a concerted effort to get Huma out and a lot of that had to do with that she is a high-profile Muslim. Unfortnately, this investigation of Weiner has nothing to do with the Republicans targeting Huma. The republicans will try to cast this as “Poor Decision” by Hillary to keep her on, but at the same time, it isn’t exactly up to Hillary to ask Huma leave her husband in order to keep her job.

  355. 355.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus: That would be nice! Hard to do where I live in Illinois – way too many of the races have only a Republican to vote for. Very unsatisfying not to vote, I wish they would have an “I don’t care if there isn’t another person running, I don’t want this person” button that I could pencil in.

  357. 357.

    SFBayAreaGal

    Hopefully, president Clinton will not nominate any Republicans for any position.

    I have never understood why Democratic presidents always need to show bipartisan by nominating a Republican.

    Stop just stop with the imaginary bipartisan. There are plenty of qualifed people from the Democratic Party.

    (What they do)
    (They smile in your face)
    Smiling faces smiling faces sometimes tell lies (back stabbers)
    (They smile in your face)
    I don’t need low down, dirty bastards (back stabbers)

  358. 358.

    BruceFromOhio

    @dogwood:

    I’m actually thinking about retreating into a personal “cone of silence” for the duration. I pretty much did that during August and part of Sept. It was great.

    I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS. It unfortunately means you have to rely on others to filter through things that actually matter. But oh the peace and tranquility! I have yet to hear more than 10 words uttered by the dumpster fire, or any of the hyperventilating by any of the news orgs. It’s also allowed me to focus on in-depth Rolling Stones or Mother Jones long reads about things that are for more interesting and relevant.

    Mostly, though, I retain my fucking sanity.

  359. 359.

    WaterGirl

    @BruceFromOhio: Speaking of long reads, did you read the long expose from the person who went undercover as a prison guard? I made it through the first part, but it was so very long, I just couldn’t make it through. It was super interesting, though, so I am a bit chagrined that the sheer length caused me to give up on the article.

    I blame the internet!

  360. 360.

    Feebog

    So this is about Anthony Wieners virtual wiener? If the FBI is investigating HIS alleged sexting to an underage girl, why would they confiscate Huma”s device? What is the justification for that? It now looks like the FBI is homing in on a few emails on Huma’s device that may are may not be considered classified. Unless the emails were to or from Clinton, how is this relevant to the FBI investigation of Clinton’s email server?

  361. 361.

    Iowa Old Lady

    I’ve been out most of the day and am just catching up on this. It looks like it was pumped as a big story that then turned out to have nothing to do with Clinton herself. Like all the email stories, it just feels confusing, which I suppose is the goal.

  362. 362.

    hovercraft

    There must be pigs in the sky. F**king Morning Joe is saying he questions the leadership of James Comey. Basically says that unless there is a smoking gun, dropping this 11 days before the election is inexcusable. He disagrees with the decision not to prosecute, but then says if that is your call then leave it at that, criticizes the press conference, his congressional testimony, and now this. Knowing that it would be a bombshell that could alter the election, if this turns into the nothing burger he will be crucified.

  366. 366.

    Betty Cracker

    @hovercraft: My guess is Comey will drag this out past the election, then announce it’s a nothingburger. People will question his integrity, but he already demonstrated his partisan motivations with his Perry Mason act when he announced the conclusion of the investigation.

  367. 367.

    Brachiator

    @Betty Cracker:

    I think it’s kinda admirable that Clinton didn’t kick Abedin to the curb over Weiner’s malfeasance.

    Not Abedin’s fault in any way, shape or form. I think that Abedin has been with Clinton since Abedin was an intern. That’s some admirable loyalty. Also, some of the purported Wikileaks emails show Abedin doing a hell of a job in preventing idiot celebrities from doing supremely stupid shit with respect to Haiti, post earthquake. Donna Karan wanted to fly in alternative health doctors. Abedin said the emphasis was on doctors who could provide critical care and that there was already problems getting necessary flights into the country.

    Also, there was a child involved. I don’t know what the Weiner household was like, but it has to be a hell of a thing to make decisions when there is a young child in the mix as well.

    If anyone understands what it’s like for a wife to get shit dumped over her head for her husband’s actions, it’s Hillary Clinton. As far as I’m concerned, Abedin’s bad taste in men shouldn’t disqualify her from government work.

    There is bad taste in men to go around for a shitload of involved here.

    Now, if she emailed classified docs to a computer she shared with that worthless piece of shit, that’s something else. But we don’t have any evidence of that. This strikes me as partisan undie-sniffing by Comey.

    Unless somebody’s selling nukes, or there is some wild Weiner connection to something nefarious, I think I’ll just ignore this. I feel sorry, though, for anyone being dragged through the mud as a result of this pointless political gamesmanship.

  368. 368.

    Matt McIrvin

    @SFBayAreaGal: Watch: there’ll be a million calls for Hillary to heal the nation by appointing a cabinet of Republicans, because after all she was only elected by ticket-splitters who were outraged at the horribleness of Trump. If the Rs keep the Senate they might even put up a list of Republicans they’re willing to approve as executive appointees, so when Hillary appoints Democrats they can say she’s not meeting them halfway.

  371. 371.

    chopper

    @PaulWartenberg2016:

    It’s turning out FBI Director Comey has no idea how to write letters to Congress to spell things out in a clear, concise and coherent manner.

    oh, he knows how all right. but why, when a generic letter can rile up the RW and make clinton look bad?

  372. 372.

    Cacti

    @Feebog:

    If the FBI is investigating HIS alleged sexting to an underage girl, why would they confiscate Huma”s device? What is the justification for that?

    There actually is a legit investigatory purpose for that. Simply to see whether Wiener had used any of his wife’s devices to make illegal communications to the alleged victim.

  375. 375.

    Captain C

    @The Moar You Know:

    he really wanted to trust them. Even after they told him exactly what they were going to do and why

    In other words, he trusted them to do the right thing, and didn’t trust what they were saying, over and over and over.

  377. 377.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    Steve Benen says the emails in question weren’t from or to Clinton, weren’t from or to her private server, weren’t withheld, and had nothing to do with WikiLeaks. I am confused.

    Comey is a Republican and the press are almost uniformly hacks. That clear it up?

  380. 380.

    bupalos

    On the face of this thing it’s nothing, it could only be very tangentially related to Clinton. So I’d guess the whole strategy here by the repubs iis just to do the “dark cloud” thing, with their lie about the case being “reopened,” and hope FBI doesn’t correct them or comment in any way. But it seems like playing with fire just a little the way they are pushing it initially–no surprise that Trump tried to make it sound like the big reveal that is sending her to jail, he’s trump. But Pence (without irony) is calling for the immediate release of these shocking new top-secret emails that would single-handedly destroy America’s vital security interests if the secret Muslims ever saw them. I don’t think he could actually want that. This whole email thing only succeeds as long as the actual contents of the messages are left to the imagination, because in reality I’m pretty sure what would be shocking is how completely not-secret the “classified information” actually is.

    It would be awesome if there was some way to call the bluff here aside from relying on the feckless Comey.

  382. 382.

    Shalimar

    Not that there aren’t many other better reasons she is getting a divorced, but Huma Weiner sounds like a crank call name.

  383. 383.

    Corner Stone

    I would just like to repost a few thoughts I had on Comey. Here’s one from 2013:

    I don’t give a shit who does it. Someone needs to put a hold on the Comey nomination.
    Fuck James Comey. It’s a fucking disgrace Obama ever nominated him for FBI.

    And another from 2015:

    Fuck James Comey. Fuck him up his stupid ass.

  384. 384.

    Barbara

    Teach’em how to say goodbye by making the loss incotrovertible. I was so angry when I first saw this that I left my office and made the deadline to vote early “absentee” by less than 10 minutes. Ten people were doing the same thing in the time it took me to vote.

  387. 387.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Back from voting. Straight ticket D.

    Good man. My basic rules for each office are (1) if there is a D running, then vote for the D; and (2) if there is no D running then don’t vote (this one is flexible, but we have one office here where the only candidates are a republican and a libertarian who are equally awful and, let’s be honest, who are both republicans, so I left that one blank).

  388. 388.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    Steve Benen says the emails in question weren’t from or to Clinton, weren’t from or to her private server, weren’t withheld, and had nothing to do with WikiLeaks. I am confused.

    My working hypothesis is that what Comey means is that the investigation of the private server led to the larger issue of the mishandling of classified information at State when Hillary was in charge, and Abedin’s emails are potentially relevant to the mishandling of classified information at State, even though they have nothing to do with the private server.

  389. 389.

    Corner Stone

    Now we are going to hear what “voters” think about “Clinton’s emails”.
    That’s going to be great.

  390. 390.

    NR

    @Betty Cracker: Funny enough, what Comey did may actually have been illegal. It’s a violation of the Hatch act to “use official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election.”

    Want to know the punch line?

    You have to prove intent!

  391. 391.

    Corner Stone

    @Peale: Not sure what you mean. Comey’s been covering his ass since he refused to sign anything when Ashcroft was in the hospital. BTW, that wasn’t courage, that was pure dyed in the wool CYA. He knew it would come back on him and he didn’t have time to game it out.
    He covered his ass with the despicable and reckless press conference he held re: HRC investigation by the FBI. And he now thinks he’s covering his ass again by being “transparent”.
    I can’t think of a better partner than this hunky young stud.

  399. 399.

    The Dangerman

    Yeah, I thought we were due for at least one more “you’re shitting me, right?” moment and having something pop up related to Weiner’s pride and joy probably qualifies. Good fucking grief…

  401. 401.

    mike in dc

    This feels like the political equivalent of point-shaving. Drop something vague to reignite the email “scandal”, just in time to save the GOP majorities in Congress. Trump is still toast, though.

  402. 402.

    waysel

    So to all you lawyers out there, what does “appear to be pertinent” mean in the context of Comeys statement?

  403. 403.

    Lizzy L

    I keep my sanity (mostly) by never turning on a TV or the radio (except Terri Gross sometimes.) I don’t listen to any pundits or political journalists. I don’t listen to Trump or Clinton: I read transcripts when I need to know what’s been said. No Morning Joe or Mika no Tweety, no Giuliani or Gingrinch, no PK or CK, no blithering any of it. Life is bland and boring — NOT. I read, follow multiple political websites obsessively and hang out here.

  404. 404.

    debbie

    This was fun to read:

    “I can’t wait to sit down with Mr. Trump and hear what he has to teach me about military strategy,” retired Col. Jeff McCausland’s statement, posted to the website of Dickinson College, where he is a visiting professor, begins.

    “He never served in the military and never served the government,” it continues. “Mr. Trump also made it very clear that he had no understanding of the nuclear triad or nuclear strategy.”

  406. 406.

    Chyron HR

    @Corner Stone:

    There you go, folks: If you think NR and company are going to stop fighting the 2016 primary after the election is over, remember that Corner Stone is still fighting the 2008 primary.

  408. 408.

    WarMunchkin

    Looks like we’re about to elect the third black president, by Toni Morrison rules.

    @Steve in the ATL: If there is no (D) running, then run as the (D).

    @Chyron HR: I don’t know what this primary thing is about, but I do think there’s this bizarre tendency to try to find Good Republicans when they are in fact scorpions, as mentioned above.

  409. 409.

    Lizzy L

    @Lizzy L: Oh, and I drink good beer. It really helps. I can’t imagine trying to get through the next eleven days with only Bud Light.

  410. 410.

    Corner Stone

    @Chyron HR: So…you’re fine with Comey heading up FBI? And you’re argument against me is that I disagreed with this nomination in 2013?
    Seems, odd TTYTT. I mean, not odd for a dumb fuck like you. But odd, nonetheless.

  413. 413.

    MCA1

    @germy: No they won’t. Like she wouldn’t fire Comey immediately? This goes nowhere. They can’t even get the fucking paperwork and staffing started on an “investigation” between now and the announcement that Clinton’s won the election. At which point Obama regretfully asks for Comey’s resignation on behalf of his elected successor.

  414. 414.

    different-church-lady

    We have clearly reached the part of the movie just before the end, where the villain seems vanquished and the audience is setting back into their seats, but then there is one last surprise deadly threat to the hero.

  417. 417.

    Lizzy L

    Fuck this. Jennifer Rubin in The WaPo is calling for Clinton to appoint Republicans to her government, especially in such positions as White House counsel and Attorney General. She suggests “With regard to Congress, the White House should explicitly waive “executive privilege” for White House officials’ testimony and records production.” The title of her piece is “How to drain the Clinton Swamp.”

  419. 419.

    Ian

    @Tripod:

    Senate control are foregone conclusions

    Where have you heard that? The most optimistic scenario I have seen is 51 seats, more likely 50 seats and tiebreaker.

  420. 420.

    Cacti

    @Lizzy L:

    Fuck this. Jennifer Rubin in The WaPo is calling for Clinton to appoint Republicans to her government, especially in such positions as White House counsel and Attorney General. She suggests “With regard to Congress, the White House should explicitly waive “executive privilege” for White House officials’ testimony and records production.” The title of her piece is “How to drain the Clinton Swamp.”

    Nice to see that Jenghazi still has a sense of humor.

  423. 423.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Lizzy L: Called it!

    Prediction: If the Republicans retain the Senate, they’re going to try to appoint Clinton’s Cabinet themselves. Put up a slate of all Republicans sworn to insubordination, and say that these are the only people they’ll confirm.

  424. 424.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Tripod: electoral-vote.com is still predicting 51 Republican seats. Sam Wang’s median is 50-50 with a significant probability for 51 Republican.

  426. 426.

    Corner Stone

    No, Heidi Pryzbyla. The democrats were not praising James Comey after his fucking press conference.

  427. 427.

    Ian

    @Botsplainer:

    Hearing Mark Halperin scream for his life while flinching and cringing would make the following cannibal wars amid the radioactive rubble nearly worth it.

    Win. Where you want prize?

  429. 429.

    Corner Stone

    Man I love me some Jennifer Granholm. Can we get her Canadian self in the HRC admin somewhere?

  433. 433.

    AxelFoley

    @The Moar You Know:

    No, dude. He campaigned on trying to work with the other side. If he didn’t, then the GOP and their media acolytes would complain about him not trying to be bipartisan.

    Obama is smarter than you or anyone else on this blog. If we knew the GOP wouldn’t govern in good faith, I’m pretty sure he knew that, too. But he had to make an attempt.

  440. 440.

    LAC

    @Chyron HR: every fucking day with that revisionist drunk . Must have taken a while to cherry pick through that vile puma shit to find that goody.

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