Hillary Clinton told reporters at a news conference in Des Moines today that she did not know FBI Director James Comey was looking into new emails linked to her private server, but is “confident whatever they are will not change the conclusion reached in July” when Comey decided not to prosecute her.
Comey told eight congressional chairmen in a letter today that new emails had surfaced in the course of a separate investigation and he had given the go-ahead to “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.”
Comey stressed that “the 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.”
The emails in question reportedly were recovered from electronic devices belonging to Huma Abedin and her estranged husband Anthony Weiner during the FBI’s probe of the former congressman sexting a 15-year-old. CNN reported that the new emails were not written by Clinton.
“We are 11 days out from perhaps the most important national election of our lifetimes. Voting is already under way in our country. So the American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately,” Clinton told reporters. “The director himself has said he doesn’t know whether the e-mails referenced in his letter are significant or not.”
“…Therefore it’s imperative that the Bureau explain this issue in question, whatever it is, without any delay.”
Clinton said she had not been contacted by anyone from the FBI about the developments and learned the news along with everyone else.
Asked if the news would matter to voters, Clinton said she thinks “people a long time ago made up their minds about the emails.”
“I think that’s factored into what people think. And now they’re choosing a president,” she said. “So I would urge everybody to get out and vote early in all the states that have early voting. Because I think Americans want a president who can lead our country, who can get the economy working for everyone, not just those at the top, and you who bring our country together. I offer that. I can do that.”
“And I’m very confident that the American people know that, and we’re going to continue to discuss what’s at stake in this election because I believe that it’s one of the most consequential elections ever.”
Clinton said she’d heard the “rumors” that the emails in question were on devices belonging to Abedin and Weiner.
“We don’t know what to believe. And I’m sure there will be even more rumors. That’s why it is incumbent upon the FBI to tell us what they are taking about…because right now, your guess is as good as mine. And I don’t think that’s good enough,” she continued.
“So we’ve made it very clear that, if they are going to be sending this kind of letter that is only going originally to Republican members of the House, that they need to share whatever facts they claim to have with the American people. And that’s what I expect to happen.”
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