# FBI is re-opening investigation into Clinton's email **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 28, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950 "2016-10-28T17:57:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/261 "2016-10-29T19:30:23Z")
> [@ganthet](#): > > So, if he were given an order by the AG, he would likely be expected to obey, but it appears he was merely advised and not ordered not to notfiy Congress and Comey appears to have thought he had an obligation to do so anyway given his earlier testimony and public recommendation on the matter. In this case, I would expect that the AG judged that the political effects of such an order would be unacceptable. Comey likely would have felt obligated to resign at that point, and that would have led to an even worse shit-storm. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/262 "2016-10-29T19:32:47Z")
Thank you for clarifying that ganthet. I had tried checking with Google without success. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Quatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@Mr\_Quatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Quatro)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/263 "2016-10-29T19:41:07Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > I’m surprised Hillary didn’t dump/distance herself from Huma at the very first sign of trouble from that asshole Weiner. 😕 because she knows too much … ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/264 "2016-10-29T19:45:11Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > I’m starting to understand how Trump can prosper when people who have factual information right in front of them on their computer screens still think this, and even write about it. > > You just have to wonder WTF is going on. Is there some kind of mass pollution of the population? The average person has an IQ of 100 or less. You expect people to be completely rational and informed? You expect people to trust only officially sanctioned sources? No. People have biases and are irrational. And even if rational only possess so much processing power in their brains. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/265 "2016-10-29T19:53:21Z")
> [@Sinaptics](#): > > I can help with this as it’s my area of expertise. I handle email and other electronic collections for large scale litigation. No emails need to be viewed by hand; electronic review tools are extremely sophisticated these days. You give me 10,000 emails and within 30 minutes I can tell you if any are new, and even if they are new, whether they’re contained in the histories of other emails as well as identify those emails and tell you if anyone has looked at them yet as well as taken any actions (printing, saving, marking them as relevent, etc.). I can pull up the entire email conversation and tell you if there are any emails in the conversation that were not collected as well as point out other conversations that are similar in context. Thanks for your knowlegeable insight on the IT part, but AFAICT all you’re saying is that it would be quick work to compare one batch of digital files to another batch of digital files; I would assume so. But: 1. Much of the info originally provided to the FBI was not in digital format, but [physically printed out](http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/11/technology/security/hillary-email-paper/index.html) in a bid to make life harder on the investigators (and presumably hide the metadata). So unless the FBI subsequently re-digitized these, we’re talking not talking about running digital queries, but about huge stacks of paper. 2. I’m kind of presuming that what they’ve found are in fact, actual new emails that were previously not turned over, and the content is being investigated. e.g. they’re checking to see if Abedin or anyone else perjured themselves. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/266 "2016-10-29T19:57:49Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > The average person has an IQ of 100 or less. You expect people to be completely rational and informed? You expect people to trust only officially sanctioned sources? No. People have biases and are irrational. And even if rational only possess so much processing power in their brains. The average person has IQ around 100. Which is basically saying the average person is average. ---
**Author:** ![ganthet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de0a6/32.png) [@ganthet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ganthet)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/267 "2016-10-29T20:10:07Z")
> [@furt](#): > > I’m kind of presuming that what they’ve found are in fact, actual new emails that were previously not turned over, and the content is being investigated. e.g. they’re checking to see if Abedin or anyone else perjured themselves. While Hillary’s testimony to the House committee did touch upon her emails, it appears that the focus of Abedin’s and other aides’ testimony to Congress was about [Benghazi](http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/16/politics/huma-abedin-hillary-clinton-house-benghazi-committee/index.html) and not the email server issue. Any interviews done between Abedin and the FBI would not have been under oath (and thus could not give rise to perjury), though if she lied to the FBI, then she could be charged with lying to law enforcement or obstruction of justice. It should also be pointed out that Abedin was in a seemingly unique position at the time, since she was a part-time State Dept. employee but also a part-time consultant to private companies. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/268 "2016-10-29T20:23:24Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > So, according to the AP, it’s got nothing to do with Clinton’s server - > [citation] > And according to NBC, these emails weren’t withheld from the previous investigation: > [citation] > So, you know - tell us again why it was so desperately important to Comey to put everyone on blast today about how he’s going to investigate something about “emails to Hillary” but he can’t give us any details or even promise that it’s important. Yes. There’s no reasonable case that can be made for Comey’s choice to release this now. > [@elucidator](#): > > Trump spokesman says that the stuff must be serious evidence because…wait for it!..otherwise Comey wouldn’t have released it like he did! Well, of course. If Comey is of at least average intelligence, which does appear to be the case, he had to know that his vague ‘don’t know if this is significant’ letter would be taken as ABSOLUTE PROOF of criminal wrongdoing by Hillary Clinton–he had to know that Trump et al would run with the ‘no smoke without fire’ argument. Comey released the letter out of pure careerism. His prospects of continuing as FBI director under Clinton were not good; though he could be fired only for cause, he probably anticipated being pressured to resign. And who would hire him after leaving the FBI? The Republicans resent and distrust him because he failed to nail Clinton to the wall back in July, and the Democrats look askance at him due to his uncalled-for scolding of Clinton, again, back in July. He had to re-win GOP hearts. This was the way to do it. Even if Clinton does win, Democratic hopes for gains in the House and Senate will have suffered because of Comey’s efforts, and the GOP will know and appreciate it. He’s a relatively young man (55–too young to retire). He will be needing a new job. Now he’s made sure that there will be some attractive offers coming his way. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/269 "2016-10-29T20:36:05Z")
Why oh why did Obama choose this blatantly partisan conniving careerist? Woe! Woe I say! ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/270 "2016-10-29T20:48:56Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Why oh why did Obama choose this blatantly partisan conniving careerist? Woe! Woe I say! How could Obama have predicted the way Comey has been treated by the right since July 2016? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/271 "2016-10-29T21:07:06Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Why oh why did Obama choose this blatantly partisan conniving careerist? Woe! Woe I say! Because he had a very good reputation amongst us lefties for standing with Ashcroft against Bush/Cheney. A good opinion I shared, thinking at long last we would see honest conservatives who would give us a fair hearing and a clean argument. And because Barry still clung to the faith that if he just reached honestly across the divide, he would be met by other men of good will. Sadly, no. Oh, wait, I answered a question, perhaps you were just having a good sneer, and I wasted the electrons? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/272 "2016-10-29T21:34:18Z")
A very interesting explanation as to why it is so likely that the e-mails on the Lethal Laptop were already in the FBI’s hands. > **[Of Course Comey's Motivation Was Political!](https://crooksandliars.com/2016/10/disagreeing-newsweeks-eichenwald-comeys)** > > Newsweek's Kurk Eichenwald states that, while flawed, FBI Director Comey's intentions are good regarding recent Clinton email letter to Congress. I disagree. Essentially, it says that Abedin already turned all of that stuff over during the previous investigation. I don’t have enough command of detailed fact to assess this, but if it is true it is very troubling indeed, adding more weight to the notion that this is a good old-fashioned Rovian rat-fuck. (I don’t often cite _Crooks and Liars_ directly, usually they link to more mainstream sources, and I use them. Of course, it is a lefty site and tighty-rightys are advised to observe liberal cootie protocols…'Course, if the author has a case, it most likely will be spread about, or otherwise debunked.) ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/273 "2016-10-29T21:53:03Z")
This scares me, because it may win the election for Trump. ---
**Author:** ![aag3981](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@aag3981](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aag3981)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/274 "2016-10-29T22:24:44Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Hold on - how does the \*sender \*have control over whether the recipient uses a public/private server to receive? Because they would have been sending classified information using a non classified system. The main reason Hillary didn’t think she sent or received classified information is because that information is supposed to be sent on a separate system entirely. If someone sent classified information to Hillary or Huma, even if they were using a .gov account, they would have been using the wrong system. Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/275 "2016-10-29T22:50:10Z")
The New York Magazine did a very devastating article on the final days of the Trump campaigne. After his attack on the Kahn family: > [@](#): > > “You do know you just attacked a Gold Star family?” one adviser warned Trump. > > Trump didn’t know what a Gold Star family was: “What’s that?” he asked. :smack: But the important to this thread paragraph is this one: > [@](#): > > In recent weeks, the mood at Trump Tower has veered between despair and denial—with a hit of resurgent glee when the news broke that the FBI was looking into more of Clinton’s emails. When I asked one senior Trump adviser to describe the scene inside, he responded: “Think of the bunker right before Hitler killed himself. Donald’s in denial. They’re all in denial.” (As Times columnist Ross Douthat put it, in a tweet, “In Trumpworld as Hitler’s Bunker terms,” the FBI investigation is “like when Goebbels thought FDR’s death would save the Nazi regime.”) Yes, **that was a senior Trump adviser**. The theme of the article is about how the Trump staffers are preparing to continue their careers after the end of the Trump campaign. ---
**Author:** ![Skypist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skypist/32/169_2.png) [@Skypist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skypist)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/276 "2016-10-29T23:08:18Z")
I thought the whole investigation into Hillary’s emails was because she used a private server as Secretary of State and may have received some classified messages on that server. But now, if the preliminary news reports are right and I’m understanding them correctly, the investigation has re-commenced because of emails that were not sent from or received on Hillary’s private server at all. Why are they investigating Hillary emails that had nothing to do with that oh-so-illicit private server? Now is the FBI going to investigate every email Hillary ever exchanged with anybody, even if it had nothing to do with that server? Like, because she erred in using her own server, EVERYTHING is going to be investigated forever? I’m not claiming to know the legalities of all this. I suppose an FBI investigation operates with different laws and rules than a regular police investigation? It’s just that I’d thought the whole dustup was because she used her private server improperly, not because there was any indication that she might have classified emails hidden on other devices or in other email accounts. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/277 "2016-10-29T23:14:26Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > This scares me, because it may win the election for Trump. It won’t, but it could reduce her margin of victory and possibly even cost the Democrats control of the Senate. The latter would make it extremely hard for her to govern. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/278 "2016-10-29T23:20:06Z")
> [@ganthet](#): > > Any interviews done between Abedin and the FBI would not have been under oath (and thus could not give rise to perjury), though if she lied to the FBI, then she could be charged with lying to law enforcement or obstruction of justice … > [@](#): > > [On June 28, 2016, Abedin said under oath in a sworn deposition that she looked for all devices that she thought contained government work on them so the records could be given to the State Department.](http://app.cogobox.com/ads/choice6/?redirect=false&url=http://drudgereport.com/&loc=1%202nd%20St,%20Laurel,%20MD%2020707) ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/279 "2016-10-29T23:36:32Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > This scares me, because it may win the election for Trump. It won’t even come close. We might not get as big a landslide as we hoped but Trump has zero chance at winning this election. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/280 "2016-10-29T23:45:38Z")
Is it true that Hillary wouldn’t be in this predicament if she’d just been forthcoming and released everything from the beginning? I guess I’m not sure of the nature of this new information (if any) that has come to light. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950.md?page=15)