Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta on Sunday blasted the FBI for its renewed investigation into the former secretary of state’s private email server as Democrats turned up the outrage over the surprise pre-election move.
Mr. Podesta called FBI Director James Comey’s Friday announcement of a renewed probe into Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s email server an “inappropriate” and “unprecedented” action that was “long on innuendo, short on facts.”
“We’re calling on Mr. Comey to come forward and explain what’s at issue here,” said Mr. Podesta on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
He said Mr. Comey should have taken “further steps” to make sure emails were significant.
“To throw this in the middle of a campaign 11 days out just seems to be break with precedent and be inappropriate at this stage,” Mr. Podesta said.
The FBI said Friday it had reopened the probe after discovering new emails, which were reportedly found on devices belonging to Clinton aide Human Abedin during an investigation into her estranged husband, former Rep. Anthony Weiner, New York Democrat, over sexually explicit emails to an underage girl.
“This was an unprecedented action. It broke with policy of Democratic and Republican Justice Departments,” Mr. Podesta said. “It was done over the advice of senior Justice Department officials, and I think that the Justice Department has had a long tradition of not interfering with elections.”
Mr. Comey announced in September that he had completed the investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s use of a private email server for classified material.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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