ELECTION 2016 - FBI Interferes With Election Process, Again

COMMENT:  As many have implied, including those within the FBI, James Comely is interfering with our election process, weather he intended to or not.  He has become a (unwitting?) Trump supporter.

"FBI to investigate new batch of server-related Clinton emails" PBS NewsHour 10/28/2016

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Call it an October surprise.  Today's FBI statement about Hillary Clinton's emails roiled the presidential race, just 11 days before the election.  Donald Trump pounced.  The Clinton camp demanded more information.

Lisa Desjardins begins our coverage.

LISA DESJARDINS (NewsHour):  Hillary Clinton landed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to campaign, but was greeted by the news that the FBI is reviewing newly found emails linked the private server she used as secretary of state.

In a letter to congressional chairmen, FBI Director James Comey said:  “An unrelated investigation turned up emails that appear pertinent to the Clinton case.” He said he agreed with his team to allow investigators to review the emails and determine whether they contain classified information, as well as assess their importance.

The candidate herself did not respond to shouted questions, and did not address it at her rally, sticking with her stump speech.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), Presidential Nominee:  Everyone working across the state are going to make sure that we win Iowa.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

LISA DESJARDINS:  Clinton's campaign chairman did send out a statement this afternoon calling the timing of the announcement extraordinary and urging the FBI to give more details about the emails in question, stressing that it's not clear if these emails are significant.

In Manchester, New Hampshire:

DONALD TRUMP (R), Presidential Nominee:  That I heard 10 minutes ago.

LISA DESJARDINS:  The news was certainly significant to Donald Trump.

DONALD TRUMP:  We must not let her take her criminal scheme into the Oval Office.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

DONALD TRUMP:  I have great respect for the fact that the FBI and the Department of Justice are now willing to have the courage to right the horrible mistake that they made.

LISA DESJARDINS:  This the same day that Clinton hoped to focus on other areas, like debuting a new television ad featuring President Obama.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:  These last eight years is on the ballot.

LISA DESJARDINS:  And the Clinton camp had good news on the fund-raising front, as Donald Trump faced new money questions, especially about his repeated pledges to personally finance his campaign, like this from two days ago.

DONALD TRUMP:  I will have over $100 million in the campaign.  And I'm prepared to go much more than that.

LISA DESJARDINS:  But new fund-raising reports show the total Trump personally donated to the campaign was $56 million as of just over a week ago.  His contributions dropped in October to a total of $31,000 for the first three weeks of this month.

What might matter more is how much Trump's campaign has on hand.  It's $16 million according to the report.  That compares with $62 million in Hillary Clinton's war chest.  Today, Trump said he is writing a $10 million check to his campaign.  That is a big boost, but it still leaves a more than 2-1 money gap.

Meanwhile, key Senate races are winding up with a contentious New Hampshire Senate debate last night and a headline-making face-off in Illinois.  Democratic Congresswoman and Iraq War veteran Tammy Duckworth had spoken of her family's history of military service going back to the Revolutionary War.

That prompted this from incumbent Republican Mark Kirk:

SEN.  MARK KIRK (R-Ill.):  I had forgotten that your parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington.

LISA DESJARDINS:  Duckworth's mother is a Thai immigrant.  Her father's family does go back to the nation's founding.  Kirk later apologized.

With a week-and-a-half left, the twists and turns of campaign 2016 keep coming.

For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Lisa Desjardins.

"Interpreting the FBI's announcement on Clinton's private server" PBS NewsHour 10/28/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Director James Comey announced the FBI will review a new batch of emails apparently related to Hillary Clinton's private server.  The messages were discovered in an unrelated investigation concerning former Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner's alleged communication with a 15-year-old girl.  To discuss the startling development, Judy Woodruff speaks with the Wall Street Journal's Devlin Barrett.