From Kurt Eichenwald’s 10.28 Newsweek story: “Friday’s disclosure that the FBI had discovered potential new evidence in its inquiry into Hillary Clinton’s handling of her personal email when she was Secretary of State has virtually nothing to do with any actions taken by the Democratic nominee, according to government records and an official with knowledge of the investigation, who spoke to Newsweek on condition of anonymity.
“The revelation that the FBI has discovered additional emails convulsed the political world, and led to widespread (and erroneous) claims and speculation. Many Republicans proclaimed that the discovery suggests Clinton may have broken the law, while Democrats condemned FBI Director James Comey for disclosing this information less than two weeks before the election, claiming he did it for political purposes.
“There is no indication the emails in question were withheld by Clinton during the investigation, the law enforcement official told Newsweek, nor does the discovery suggest she did anything illegal. Also, none of the emails were to or from Clinton, the official said. Moreover, despite the widespread claims in the media that this development had prompted the FBI to ‘reopen’ the case, it did not; such investigations are never actually closed, and it is common for law enforcement to discover new information that needs to be examined.”
From Jane Mayer‘s New Yorker piece, “JAMES COMEY BROKE WITH LORETTA LYNCH AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TRADITION,” filed this morning at 1:25 am: “’I don’t really blame Comey,’ another former Justice Department official said. ‘But [what he did is] troubling.’ This official thought that Comey ‘didn’t want to look tainted. This new information comes to him, and he’s afraid if he doesn’t make it public until after the election he’ll be impeached. People will say he lied to Congress. But in the end he did the self-protective thing. Was it the right thing? Put it this way: it isn’t what previous Administrations have done.'”
And yet what matters in the end is not what Comey did, but how the average-citizen morons who never read the first four or five paragraphs of a news story and only read the headlines will respond on election day. The brainiacs will read the headlines that say “New Clinton Emails FBI” blah blah and go “Yup, more corruption, she’s awful, vote for Trump or stay home.”