DAYTONA BEACH, United States: America’s top cop FBI Director James Comey found himself center stage Saturday as his renewed probe of Hillary Clinton’s emails set a bitter tone for the final ten-day stretch of the campaign.
Both Clinton and her Republican rival Donald Trump piled pressure on Comey to put his cards on the table and end speculation about the investigation before America goes to the polls on November 8.
Clinton demanded the FBI director explain in detail why he had effectively reopened an inquiry declared complete in July, branding Comey’s move “deeply troubling” so close to Election Day.
And Trump fired up his raucous supporters with a vow that “justice can at last be delivered” — despite the FBI not putting any timeline on the new inquiry.
In reality, it seems unlikely that any progress will be made in the email investigation before polling day, and few observers imagine that Clinton could face criminal charges.
But every day that she spends dealing with the fallout of her decision to use a private email server as secretary of state is a day the media is not dwelling on the scandals dogging Trump.
And while the 69-year-old Democratic candidate remains on course to be voted
in as America’s first female president next week, her campaign is furious that its momentum has slowed in the final straight.
On Saturday, the latest poll of polls by tracker site RealClearPolitics put Clinton 3.9 percentage points ahead of Trump nationwide, down from a gap of 7.1 points just 10 days previously.
And an ABC/Washington Post survey gave her a 47 per cent to 45 percent lead, a drastic fall from her 12-point margin in the same poll a week ago.
The narrowing can’t be traced solely to Friday’s shock announcement, but when Clinton took the stage in Daytona Beach in the swing state of Florida it was obvious who her campaign is blaming. — AFP