CINCINNATI, Ohio — Top aides for Hillary Clinton on Monday accused FBI Director James Comey of a “double standard” in his investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state.
Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook called on Comey to explain why he rushed to disclose new information about the status of the investigation into Clinton, while reportedly opposing, on the grounds that it would be too close to the election, a public statement by the FBI that the Russian government was seeking the influence the presidential race.
“It is impossible to view this as anything less than a blatant double standard,” Mook said.
Democrats are reeling from the news last week that Comey is revisiting his probe into the potential mishandling of classified material.
Aiming to quickly redirect the focus of the presidential race, the Clinton campaign seized on news reports that Comey had rejected efforts within the FBI to identify Russia as the source of hacking incidents this year, which primarily effected Democratic organizations, including Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.
Clinton’s press secretary, Brian Fallon, said that Comey “set a standard for narrating a play-by-play for matters involving Hilary Clinton,” but has not set the same standard for inquiries into Russian hacking and potential ties to Republican nominee Donald Trump’s campaign.
“Director Comey owes the public an explanation for this inconsistency,” he said.
Meanwhile, in Warren, Mich., Trump hammered on the issue of Clinton’s emails during a rally that started more than two hours late in the Detroit suburb.
He said that he expects the FBI to find some of the 33,000 emails that have yet to be uncovered among the 650,000 emails that are reportedly on the laptop at the center of the latest controversy. He repeated his claim that Clinton’s use of a private email server “the biggest scandal since Watergate,” and told Clinton to stop blaming the scandal on others.
“Hillary Clinton wants to blame everyone else for her mounting legal troubles,” Trump said. “But she has brought this situation onto herself. She’s got nobody to blame but herself.”
While campaigning in Ohio, Clinton moved to turn the conversation to national security and Trump’s fitness for office.
The Democratic presidential nominee addressed the email issue at the start of a speech at Kent State University.
“I’m sure a lot of you may be asking what this new email story is about, and why in the world the FBI would decide to jump into an election with no evidence of wrongdoing,” days before Election Day, Clinton said. “That’s a good question.”
“I understand. And as I’ve said, I’m not making any excuses” for setting up her private email system as she did, Clinton said. “I’ve said it was a mistake, and I regret it.”
On Sunday night, the FBI obtained a warrant to review the emails. In his letter to Congress, Comey said that whether the emails provide any new information to the Clinton investigation had yet to be determined.
