Election Campaign in Final Stretch After FBI Clears Clinton
VOA News
FBI Director James Comey has told Congress a new review of emails related to Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state revealed no evidence of criminal activity, as Democrat Clinton and her Republican rival Donald Trump prepared to make their last push for votes in Tuesday’s election.
«Based on our review, we have not changed our conclusions that we expressed in July with respect to Secretary Clinton,» Comey wrote on Sunday.
Comey had declared in July that while Clinton’s use of a private email system was careless, «no reasonable prosecutor» would pursue a criminal case against her. Last week the issue reemerged when the FBI said it was focusing again on Clinton’s emails after finding a large batch of messages in an unrelated case involving former Congressman Anthony Wiener.
Part of the Nov. 6, 2016, letter from FBI director James Comey to Congress.
Clinton, Trump react to news
The Clinton campaign welcomed the announcement, with communications chief Jennifer Palmieri saying the team was confident Comey would reach that conclusion.
«We’re glad that this matter is resolved,» she told reporters.
Trump told supporters in Pennsylvania that Clinton is «the most corrupt person» to ever run for president in the U.S.
«Investigations into her crimes will go on for a long, long time,» he said, adding that voters could «deliver justice» with their vote.
He later told a crowd in the town of Leesburg, Virginia that Tuesday’s election would be «Brexit times 50,» in reference to the surprising result of the British referendum earlier this year to leave the European Union. Like Trump, the «leave» side of that vote trailed in polls going into Election Day.
In her own events Sunday, Clinton sought to portray her candidacy as starkly different from Trump’s.
«I think it’s fair to say after all the months of this campaign, my opponent has a very dark and divisive view of our country,» she told supporters in New Hampshire. «Sometimes when I hear him speak, I don’t honestly recognize the country that he is talking about.»
She added that she thinks it is important to believe in a hopeful, united and inclusive country.
Clinton has stops planned in Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, culminating with an evening rally in Philadelphia along with her husband, former President Bill Clinton, as well as President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama.
Trump has stops planned in Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire.