Friday, October 28, 2016

FBI reopens investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails.

Hillary Clinton and her aide Huma Abedin. Reuters. 

The FBI has reopened the investigation into Hillary Clinton's email server. Reuters. The investigation was reopened after new e-mails were discovered on Anthony Wiener's phone. Wiener was married to top Hillary Clinton aide, Huma Abedin, and his recent sexting scandal was being investigated by the FBI. It is unclear what the FBI has found, but James Comey, the FBI director, reopened the case. Comey had earlier recommended no charges for Hillary Clinton. The candidates responded to the announcement predictable, with Donald Trump praising the descion while Hillary Clinton demanded more information from Comey. 

My Comment:
This is a massive problem for Hillary Clinton. And the timing couldn't be worse. This is the dreaded October surprise for Clinton and it may effect her chances of winning. The Clinton campaign had thought they had put the e-mail issue behind them. To have it come up at the 11th hour has to be a huge blow to morale for the Clinton campaign.  

I have no idea what the FBI found, but whatever it was it has to be damning. Comey is putting his entire career, and perhaps even his life, on the line by reopening this case. My guess is that it is something worse then simple classified information. They found that in the original case and the FBI didn't bring charges. It could be something showing clear corruption or even overt criminal acts. 

The media is giving this quite a bit of coverage. The usual suspects are bashing Comey over this, but everyone is covering the underlying issue. This is a massive change as well. For the last couple of months they have been giving Clinton fawning coverage while bashing Donald Trump. But now even pro-Clinton outlets, like the New York Times and the Washington Post are covering the story. 

I think that the investigation and the coverage has less to do with the actual issue and more to due with Hillary Clinton's chances in November. There might be something damning on the device that the FBI took, but I don't think the issue would have come up if the thought Clinton was going to win. Though some of the polls still have her winning, she has been hemorrhaging points, even in the most favorable rigged polls. Early voting has shown that Clinton is losing in some critical states, including Florida. And Trump's team announced today that normally solid blue states, like Nevada and Michigan, are tied in their internal polling. There would be no way that Trump would visit Nevada if he didn't think it was in play... 

There is also the possibility that Comey is trying to salvage his personal and professional credibility. At the very least, he thinks that Hillary Clinton is going to lose. He also know that if Trump wins, he is going to open another investigation into Clinton and perhaps Comey himself. My guess is that he knows what Clinton did was wrong and wants to wash his hands of the issue. He doesn't want to be known as the guy that let Clinton off the hook. 

It's also possible that Comey knows that there are going to be more leaks. I have heard rumors that the November surprise is going to be the release of Clinton's 30,000 deleted e-mails. Wikileaks may have them and Kim Dotcom claims that the e-mails can be found in the NSA data center in Utah. My guess is that these emails are going to leak before the election and they will contain damning information on Clinton. Comey knows this and, again, wants to salvage his reputation before it happens. 

Will this effect the election? There might be a few undecided voters that will switch yes, but I don't think it will in the long run. If I am right and these charges are because damning leaks are still upcoming, then those leaks will have the real impact. But the investigation itself? Probably won't do much except slightly depress voter turnout for the Democrats.

But I do think that this issue, if nothing else comes up, will be used as an excuse for a Donald Trump victory. I think that is probably wrong. People don't vote on character . If they did then Trump would have been done after the Trump tape and the various groping accusations, and Clinton would have never been able to run. 

People vote on policy and right now Clinton's policies are extremely unpopular. Obamacare, which Hillary Clinton foolishly called Hillarycare, has been a disaster. All across America people have seen their rates skyrocket and the penalty for not having insurance increase as well. People will vote their pocketbooks and people will hate that they are paying so much for something that is either useless or worse then they had before. And that's to say nothing with the economic problems and various foreign policy difficulties. 

I would also like to take this opportunity to say that I am officially predicting a Donald Trump victory in November. I really think that Comey reopening the case and the media actually covering it are huge signs that the election is not going the way Hillary Clinton is losing, despite what the polls are saying. I could be wrong, but I really think that this is the beginning of the end for Clinton... 

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