On Friday’s broadcast of “MSNBC Live,” Hillary for America Press Secretary Brian Fallon stated that “it boggles the mind” why the FBI sent a letter to members of Congress announcing it is taking a second look at Clinton’s emails, that it “would be unfortunate if all of that reputation tarnishing that these Congressional Republicans have been engaging in is what prompted this. I don’t know that to be true, but I do know that this is an extraordinary and unprecedented step for something like this to be conveyed to Capitol Hill, just 11 days before an election,” and “it is incumbent on Director Comey to fill in the blanks, and provide more information about what prompted him to send this letter today.”
Fallon said, “In his statement…the director himself refers to the possibility that these materials, whatever they are, may not be significant at all. And so, given that possibility, and that likelihood from our vantage point, it’s — it boggles the mind why this steps was taken with just 11 days to go.”
Fallon added, “[A]t this point, it is incumbent on Director Comey to fill in the blanks, and provide more information about what prompted him to send this letter today. As it is, we now have the worst of all worlds here, where he has aired this, in an extraordinary step, that would almost never be taken in any other circumstance, and yet, the public doesn’t have any information at their disposal to judge the significance of this, or what it has to do with Hillary Clinton.”
Fallon also criticized “Congressional Republicans, who were clearly disappointed in that outcome, [the decision not to indict Clinton] seeking to re-litigate the handling of the investigation, calling Director Comey, who throughout his career, has been someone of utmost integrity and of professional reputation, who was the number two formerly in the Bush Justice Department. They’ve suggested that there were quid pro quos involving FBI officials, even after the FBI has denied it. Republicans on Capitol Hill, and Donald Trump himself have called the bureau’s integrity into question.”
He continued that it “would be unfortunate if all of that reputation tarnishing that these Congressional Republicans have been engaging in is what prompted this. I don’t know that to be true, but I do know that this is an extraordinary and unprecedented step for something like this to be conveyed to Capitol Hill, just 11 days before an election, being sent to eight Republican committee chairmen, who have shown no discretion in the past whatsoever for keeping anything confidential, and I think that it had to be known that a document like this would get out. And so, now that it is out, the American people need to have the full facts. And when Director Comey says that is something arising from a completely unrelated matter, unrelated to the case that was closed in July, he now owes us an explanation why there’s any connection being drawn to Hillary Clinton at all if that’s the case. And when he includes for the possibility that these emails may turn out to be insignificant, he needs to tell us why is he sending this letter if the possibly is — still exists that these materials are insignificant.”
Fallon concluded, “We are fully confident, that at the end of this review, however long it takes, that there will be no conclusion drawn that would at all have changed the outcome of the investigation that was wrapped up in July. And so, we think at this point, it is incumbent on Director Comey and the FBI to go further than what’s contained in this letter, to hold another press conference if that’s what it takes, but to come forward with — to the public with more information that explains what relevance this has on the decision that voters are making when they go to the polls right now, and choose between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, because we don’t think there is any connection.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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