Does Comey Regret His Decision?

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Clinton and ComeyFBI Director James B. Comey made headlines today for reporting new allegations against Hillary Clinton because of, you guessed it, her use of email. This time, new emails have been discovered in connection with Anthony Weiner, the former NY congressman who was caught "sexting." His ex-wife is Huma Abedin, a Clinton aide.

Comey apparently went public with the news, in the form of a letter to Congress, without any specifics, with no decision to bring charges, and despite warnings from the Department of Justice. Soon after Comey went public, he issued this email to FBI employees, perhaps indicating his ambivalence about the release. 

To all:

This morning I sent a letter to Congress in connection with the Secretary Clinton email investigation.  Yesterday, the investigative team briefed me on their recommendation with respect to seeking access to emails that have recently been found in an unrelated case.  Because those emails appear to be pertinent to our investigation, I agreed that we should take appropriate steps to obtain and review them.

Of course, we don't ordinarily tell Congress about ongoing investigations, but here I feel an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed. I also think it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record.  At the same time, however, given that we don't know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails, I don't want to create a misleading impression.  In trying to strike that balance, in a brief letter and in the middle of an election season, there is significant risk of being misunderstood, but I wanted you to hear directly from me about it.

Jim

Clinton's approach to the news is to go on the attack, criticizing Comey's decision as "unprecedented" and "deeply troubling."

Image source.

Discussion Starters:

  • Did Comey make the right decision? Why or why not? Is this just a distraction from the election, which is just 10 days away, or is this essential to Americans' decision?
  • Will Hillary ever live down this issue? If she becomes president, what is the best way for her to handle the situation?