The Justice Department sent a brief letter to six legislators today, saying that the department will work closely with the FBI to take "appropriate steps as expeditiously as possible" in the renewed investigation into emails potentially tied to Hillary Clinton's private email server.
The three paragraph letter written by Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs Peter Kadzik said that the department and FBI will "dedicate all necessary resources" to the investigation, but provided no further details about the contents of the emails or whether they are significant.
The short statement on behalf of Attorney-General Loretta Lynch and FBI Director James Comey represents an effort by the Justice Department to stabilise and assert control over a politically explosive situation set in motion at the weekend when Comey notified congressional leaders about the FBI's renewed probe.
Kadzik was responding to a letter sent to Lynch and Comey from Democratic senators Thomas Carper, Patrick Leahy, Dianne Feinstein and Benjamin Cardin asking that law enforcement authorities provide by today more details of the investigative steps being taken by the FBI, the number of emails involved and what is being done to determine how many of the emails are the same as ones already reviewed by the FBI.
"Just 10 days before a presidential election, the American people deserve more disclosure without delay regarding the FBI's most recent announcement," the senators wrote over the weekend. "Anything less would be irresponsible and a disservice to the American people."The letter was also sent to Congressmen Elijah Cummings and John Conyers.
Comey set off a firestorm by telling the chairmen of eight congressional committees that the FBI would take "appropriate investigative steps" to determine whether newly discovered emails found in an unrelated investigation contain classified information and to assess whether they are relevant to the investigation involving Clinton's private email server. The unrelated case was an investigation of former Congressman Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin.
Justice officials have said that before Comey notified Congress they warned him that doing so would go against long-standing practices of the department to not comment on ongoing investigations and to not take steps that could be viewed as influencing an election.
Officials familiar with Comey's decision said that he felt a sense of obligation to legislators to "supplement" his testimony under oath in July that the Clinton investigation was complete and there would be no charges. Comey was also concerned that word of the new email discovery would leak to the media and raise questions of a coverup, the officials said.
Charles Grassley the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote to Comey today saying that the disclosure he provided to Congress last week "did not go far enough" and was unfair to Congress and the American people.
"In the absence of additional, authoritative information from the FBI in the wake of your vague disclosure, Congress and the American people are left to sift through anonymous leaks from Justice Department officials to the press of varying levels of detail, reliability, and consistency," he wrote. "The American people deserve better than that."
Grassley asked Comey to answer by November 5 a series of questions about the email discovery and what the FBI has learned so far about their contents.
Grassley's request adds to the increasing pressure on Comey to release more details and clarify his letter to Congress. A bipartisan group of about 100 former federal prosecutors and senior Justice Department officials have also called on Comey to release more information.
Over the weekend, Comey reached out to the House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte and the panel's ranking member, John Conyers. Goodlatte told ABC News that he spoke briefly with Comey in a joint conversation with Conyers.
"We both encouraged him to make sure that the American people have as much information as possible before they have to make a decision on November 8th, based upon this stunning new development, that the bureau is examining new evidence in this case, that they said they had completed several months ago," Goodlatte said.
Goodlatte said that Comey was not responsive to specific questions.
"He did not give us any response in terms of what more he could say," Goodlatte said. "But he certainly took that under advisement."
White House spokesman Josh Earnest praised Comey as "a man of principle . . . integrity and talent," and said that President Barack Obama, who nominated Comey three years ago to serve a 10-year sentence, does not believe that he is trying to influence the presidential election.
She said that if the bureau wants to look at the emails, which appear tied to her longtime aide Huma Abedin, "by all means, they should look at them".Clinton accused the FBI of having jumped into the election "with no evidence of any wrongdoing with just days to go".
Hillary Clinton forcefully challenged the FBI's new email inquiry, declaring during a campaign rally in the battleground state of Ohio: "There's no case here."
Clinton's comments were her most pointed yet on the subject, and they underscored her campaign's decision to fight back aggressively against FBI Director James Comey.
Last weekend - just over a week from Election Day - Comey alerted Congress that the FBI has obtained new material that may be related to its dormant investigation into whether classified information passed through Clinton's private email server while she served as Secretary of State.The FBI plans to review the emails to see if they contain classified information and if so, whether they were handled properly. The Justice Department said today it would "dedicate all necessary resources" to concluding the review promptly.
She said that if the bureau wants to look at the emails, which appear tied to her longtime aide Huma Abedin, "by all means, they should look at them".Clinton accused the FBI of having jumped into the election "with no evidence of any wrongdoing with just days to go".
But she insisted the FBI would reach the same conclusion it did earlier this year, when it declined to recommend Clinton and her advisers face charges for how they handled classified information.
"They said it wasn't even a close call," she said.
"I think most people have decided a long time ago what they think about all of this."
The investigation appears to centre on a laptop belonging to Anthony Weiner, the disgraced former Congressman and Abedin's estranged husband.
It's unclear whether the material on the device was from Clinton. It's also not known if the emails in question are new or duplicates of the thousands the former Secretary of State and her aides have already turned over.
NBC/SurveyMonkey tracking shows no change before Comey and after— Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) October 31, 2016
Monday thru Friday: HRC 47, Trump 41
Saturday thru Sunday: HRC 47, Trump 41
In another sign of the Clinton campaign's escalating feud with Comey, her advisers leapt on a CNBC report that the director opposed releasing information close to election day about Russian interference in the White House race.
Campaign manager Robby Mook called the report evidence of a "blatant double standard".
The AP has not confirmed that report, and the FBI declined to comment on it today. Intelligence agencies have linked Russia to the hacking of Democratic groups during the campaign. Clinton has charged the Kremlin is trying to tilt the election in favour of Donald Trump and has questioned the Republican's financial ties to Russia.
The Obama Administration delayed for weeks formally blaming Russia because of sensitive negotiations that were taking place with Moscow at the time over Syria, according to people familiar with the investigation. Even hawkish officials within the Justice Department who were urging an announcement blaming Russia did not object to waiting for those negotiations to conclude.
Trump rally fashion report pic.twitter.com/LU7obzv96d— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) October 31, 2016
When the Syria talks collapsed in failure, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Homeland Security Department released a joint statement accusing Russia of the hacking.
Clinton's advisers were stunned by Comey's decision to publicly alert Congress that the bureau had new information that could be pertinent to its initial email investigation. Comey's letter was short on detail, infuriating the Clinton campaign, which accused him of leaving the situation open to inaccurate interpretations.
Trump has seized on the FBI review, gleeful over getting a new opportunity to hammer Clinton's trustworthiness and perhaps change the trajectory of a race that appeared to be slipping away from him.
Today, Clinton tried to refocus the contest on Trump as she opened the final full week of campaigning with a rally at Kent State University.
She's blasted Trump at length for being unfit to serve as commander in chief, bringing together several of the charges she has leveled against him throughout the campaign.
Polls show Clinton ahead in NC because Trump isn't doing well among white voters, esp well-edu whites. It's not bc of high black turnout— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) October 31, 2016
Speaking in serious tones, Clinton warned at length about putting Trump in control of the nation's nuclear stockpiles. She accused him of talking "casually" about nuclear war and wondered whether he knows "that a single nuclear warhead can kill millions of people".
Clinton's message was amplified by Bruce Blair, a former intercontinental ballistic missile launch control officer. Blair said he would "live in constant fear" of Trump making a bad call about nuclear weapons if he were still a launch officer.
Clinton's blistering warnings about Trump's preparedness for the Oval Office were an attempt to refocus the choice in front of voters after a rough stretch for her campaign.
Her team has long accepted that many voters simply don't trust the former Secretary of State, but they believe she is viewed as more qualified than Trump to be president - an assertion backed up by many public opinion polls.
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