"It Was All Politics"

Now that the subpoena to search Anthony Weiner's laptop has been unsealed, the world can see that the FBI - notably the New York office, a.k.a. "Trumpland," - didn't let lack of probable cause stop it from bigfooting in the election on behalf of their Fearless Leader:

The FBI had nothing to justify its election-changing intervention against #Clinton. Zero. Zilch. It was all politicshttps://t.co/9xzY2GNbYt

— EJ Dionne (@EJDionne) December 21, 2016

The FBI's subpoena was "legal garbage."

"It was all politics."  What a shocker.

BREAKING: FBI Director Comey Clears Clinton On New E-Mails (UPDATED)

FBI Director Comey tells Congress, "there's no there there" when it comes to the latest Hillary Clinton nothingburger e-mail investigation:

Dear Messrs. Chairmen: 

I write to supplement my October 28, 2016 letter that notified you the FBI would be taking additional investigative steps with respect to former Secretary of State Clinton's use of a personal email server. Since my letter, the FBI investigative team has been working around the clock to process and review a large volume of emails from a device obtained in connection with an unrelated criminal investigation. 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, we have not changed our conclusions that we expressed in July with respect to Secretary Clinton.  

I am very grateful to the professionals at the FBI for doing an extraordinary amount of high-quality work in a short period of time. 

Sincerely yours, 

/s/  

James  B. Comey
Director

A most welcome but very belated November surprise, following a most unnecessary October intrusion into the election process.

UPDATE:  Meanwhile, on every cable news channel they're running Rump's speech in blue Minnesota with a chyron announcing the news from the FBI.  Bastards.  Remember them.

UPDATE II:  Twitter reactions...

JESUS CHRIST!!!! Now Comey announces FBI has not changed its assessment based on new emails. He threw the election in2 chaos FOR NOTHING!!!

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) November 6, 2016

After dropping a partisan bomb on the election, James Comey issues an "oh never mind" letter. pic.twitter.com/xeFDYiUaqT

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) November 6, 2016

James Comey now appears to be the guy who saw an unlit match on the floor and then screamed “FIRE!” in a crowded theater.

— Matt Viser (@mviser) November 6, 2016

Motivating Tweet Of The Day

Remember, if Republicans keep the House and the Senate, FBI can keep operating like a GOP SuperPAC with impunity. https://t.co/FPUboSA1fO

— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) November 2, 2016

The FBI is an Augean stable of Republican hacks that needs to be cleaned out as soon as the election is over.  Vote straight Democratic ticket.

Today's Cartoon Threefer - Comeygate

(click on images to enlarge)


(Tom Toles, Washington Post)


(Steve Benson, Arizona Republic)


(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Time For A Deep Breath, Courtesy Of Sam Wang (And Prof. Hubbard)

Polling guru Sam Wang at Princeton Election Consortium has some words of wisdom for us in the wake of Comeygate:

1. The national race will not change meaningfully. Maybe by 1 percentage point when aggregated…2 points max. It doesn’t change the high likelihood of a Clinton win. 

2. Journalists and pundits will continue to feed hysterics by fussing over the Comey story. They may even attempt to use polling evidence to justify their coverage. However, note that national polls had already tightened by 1-2 percentage points, even before Comeygate. This is a phenomenon known as regression to the mean, and is a central assumption of PEC’s model. 

3. Keep your eye on the ball, which is downticket. In the Senate, key races in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Nevada, and North Carolina will determine control of that chamber. Small changes mean a lot: early voting, get-out-the-vote, bad weather…maybe even the Comey story.

Wang generally chalks up the static nature of the trend lines to political polarization. Well, we can certainly attest to the fact that Comeygate (had we not already early voted) would have propelled us to the polls in righteous, polarized anger at the events of the last 48 hours.  In fact, just the thought of neo- fascist moron Donald "Rump" Trump gaining any ground from this bungle would be motivation enough to re- double our efforts to see that he's defeated, and we think that goes for tens of millions of Democrats and other sane people.

BONUS:  Professor Hubbard (who has a better record than 538's Nate Silver) has more to soothe the troubled soul.  Caveat:  we need to get out the vote to make this reality; it doesn't happen because someone's calculations said so.

How Banana Republics Do Elections

Here's Digby's perspective on the state of affairs of the 2016 election:

We have outside forces, possibly foreign governments, interfering in the election on behalf of one party with the Wikileaks dumps. We have a candidate of that party declaring his opponent is guilty of crimes and promising to jail her if he wins, suggesting that any other outcome is illegitimate. Now we have the director of the government's most powerful police force ignoring his own bosses and abandoning all norms and precedent to interfere in the election just ten days before it is to take place, benefitting the same party. And we have a media which is ready and willing to run with all of this as it's being fed to them with virtually no concern that they are being used to undermine our democratic processes excusing themselves with the fatuous "it's out there" and "that's our job." 

This is the way banana republics do "elections." That's what we are becoming. Maybe we already are.

In other words, we have vicious, destructive adherents of an alternate reality that are pulling out all the stops to take us down into their hell hole, and others who are perfectly willing not only to go along for the ride, but to grease the wheels.

Sic transit gloria, America.

Those "Damn E-Mails" and "Problematic Men" (UPDATED)

Yesterday's letter from FBI Director James Comey to Congress saying that "the FBI has learned of the existence of e-mails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation" of Secretary Clinton's use of a private e-mail server was an unprecedented move by them just 10 days before the election.  In fact, the e-mails that Comey referred to were those uncovered in an investigation of sleazy, disturbed former Rep. Anthony "Carlos Danger" Weiner for sexting an underage female.  Weiner is the estranged husband of Clinton aide Huma Abedin, who apparently used his laptop to send e-mails as part of her State Department duties. Whether or not classified material was stored or transmitted improperly on that laptop is the focus of the FBI review.

Comey has come under fire from former prosecutors and Justice Department officials for his public disclosure of the new information while an investigation is proceeding, and at the height of an important election. By publicizing the new e-mails without a determination of their relevance or importance to the FBI's previous investigation, the FBI has facilitated Clinton's political and media enemies to engage in speculation and reckless charges before anything is known.  To address yesterday's kerfuffle, Clinton urged the FBI to release "the full and complete facts" of their e-mail review, but Comey's letter indicated that he had no estimate as to when the review would be completed, that last part to the delight of Rethuglicans scrambling to salvage the election.

Last night on "All In With Chris Hayes," New York Magazine writer Rebecca Traister discussed the role that bad behavior by men is having on the first female candidate for President. Whether it's sociopathic groper Donald "Rump" Trump, or misbehaving former President Bill Clinton, or serial adulterers and Rump surrogates Newt "Poot" Gingrich and Rudy "Noun Verb 9-11" Giuliani, or sexting "Carlos Danger" Weiner, the bad conduct of men toward women keeps reverberating through this campaign. Comey's behavior, while not salacious, is at best questionable. As Traister memorably said, "it's like the festival of problematic men."

BONUS:  Erin Gloria Ryan makes the same point, as does T. Becket Adams:

As a woman inches closer to the White House, news is dominated by sexual misconduct of her opponent, her husband and her aide’s husband.

— T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) October 28, 2016

UPDATE:  Comey felt the need to clarify his actions in a letter to FBI employees on Friday, which read in part:

Of course, we don’t ordinarily tell Congress about ongoing investigations, but here I feel an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed. I also think it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record.  At the same time, however, given that we don’t know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails, I don’t want to create a misleading impression.  In trying to strike that balance, in a brief letter and in the middle of an election season, there is significant risk of being misunderstood, but I wanted you to hear directly from me about it. (our emphasis)

"Misunderstood." Ya think, Sherlock?

UPDATE II:  Four Democratic Senators have asked Comey and the Department of Justice for more information about the investigation and emails by October 31, saying that Comey's letter had been misunderstood and was being used for partisan purposes just 10 days before the election.