The October Surprise has been November Unsurprised. Hillary Clinton’s campaign was rocked on Oct. 28 by a letter from FBI director James Comey that said new emails “pertinent” to the Clinton email investigation would be reviewed. She is now back in the clear after nine days of minimal legal risk but meaningful political damage.
The “FBI investigative team has been working around the clock to process and review a large volume of emails” obtained from Anthony Weiner’s computer, Comey wrote in a Sunday “supplement” to his Oct. 28 letter. “During that process, we reviewed all of the communications that were to or from Hillary Clinton while she was Secretary of State.”
“Based on our review,” he states, “we have not changed our conclusions that we expressed in July with respect to Secretary Clinton.” In other words, the original decision that she would not be charged with any criminal conduct still stands.
Well, so much for that.
You be the judge of how well the FBI handled this from start to finish. One imagines the Clinton campaign, on net, would still be mighty displeased with the way the last nine days played out. But now she’s absolved—again—depriving Trump of one of his most searing (if wholly hyperbolic) talking points: That if Clinton’s elected, our new president could be under indictment over her mishandling of emails.
