What to Expect After FBI's Renewal of Clinton Probe Ahead of US Election

A little more than a week before the US presidential election day, in a surprising development, James Comey, the director FBI, said that the agency was looking into the possibility of resuming the probe into the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s handling of the classified information during her tenure as the secretary of state.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Clinton and her campaign aides criticized Comey for making his bombshell revelation so close to the Election Day.

"It’s pretty strange to put something like that out with such little information right before an election. In fact, it’s not just strange; it’s unprecedented and it is deeply troubling," Clinton said of Comey’s actions, as quoted by The New York Times.

Both Clinton and her supporters stressed the need to clarify the situation. In contrast to this desire for the clarity Clinton had deleted thousands of emails off her private server before submitting the rest for the initial FBI investigation. It is not clear if the Democratic party’s candidate's call for putting all the facts on the table is just a bluff or a sincere wish to find the truth.

RIA Novosti talked to US experts, who believe that the FBI is unable to unveil the details of the investigation so as not to compromise it.

On October 28, Comey sent a letter to the Congress informing its members that the FBI had found new evidence possibly pertaining to the investigations of Clinton’s use of the private server for professional correspondence as the secretary of state. The FBI found the emails that might be linked to Clinton on the laptop belonging to Anthony Weiner, the husband of Clinton’s adviser Huma Abedin, while working on an unrelated probe into Weiner’s alleged exchange of illicit messages with an underage girl. The agency will now have to look at about 650,000 of the new emails.

In July, Comey described Clinton’s handling of classified emails as extremely careless but said it did not warrant criminal charges. However, the FBI found that about a hundred of the emails were classified despite Clinton’s claims that she had never sent or received classified information via her private server. Clinton had also deleted about 30,000 of the emails, which she considered private, before turning the rest over to the FBI. The agency is releasing these emails in batches, with a few still left to publish.

Cards on the Table

Clinton reacted fast to Comey’s announcement by urging the FBI to disclose whatever information they had on the new emails.

"Voting is underway, so the American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately," Clinton said, as quoted by the CNN television broadcaster.

She reportedly added was "imperative that the bureau explain this issue in question, whatever it is, without any delay."

The US Vice President Joe Biden supported Clinton’s call for transparency.

"I think Hillary, if she said what I’m told she said, is correct. Release the emails for the whole world to see," Biden said, as quoted by the USA Today.

Clinton really wants the full facts to be revealed, but the FBI might not oblige, according to Michael W. Traugott, Research Professor Emeritus.

"I do not think she is bluffing — she would prefer for everything to be known and visible. But I do not think the FBI will "publish" everything they have until they know what is there by their own inspection," Traugott told RIA Novosti.

The author of the program "Background politics" Justin Russell agrees that the FBI will not be able to make public all the facts about the ongoing investigation.

" … the bureau is going to have a hard time in giving out the information – disclosing information on an active investigation," Russell told RIA Novosti.

Russell, backed by 25 years of experience in developing strategies for US government agencies and the support of a number of congressional campaigns, added that the release of the active probe might compromise the investigation.

Candice Nelson, a professor at American university, also believes that the FBI cannot make public the details of their investigation.

"It is not possible to publish all the emails before the election, so it won't affect the election any more than the emails already have," Nelson told RIA Novosti.

Obama: Comey is a Good Man

The US President Barack Obama, a loyal Clinton supporter, was very measured in his reaction to Comey’s letter. According to him, the FBI Director was not motivated by the desire to undermine Clinton’s election campaign.

"… Jim Comey is a good man. And I do not believe that he is in any way trying to influence the election one way or another. I think he is a serious public servant who wants to do the right thing," Obama said in an MSNBC interview.

Obama added that in the United States investigators and prosecutors had always steered clear from politics and it should remain so.

FBI Bias

The media have begun to speculate on whether the FBI is biased against Clinton or not.

On November 4, The Guardian published an article with quotes from a number of the FBI employees, one of them calling the agency "Trumpland" and the others adding that the majority of the FBI personnel were staunchly against Clinton, which was the reason of the leaks.

The Associated Press found out through the unnamed sources that the FBI presented to the Department of Justice their reasons for the further investigation into Clinton’s emails, but the Department of Justice representatives were not convinced.

Trump himself said that the the Department of Justice was trying to protect Clinton.

"The political leadership at the Department of Justice is trying as hard as they can to protect their angel, Hillary," Trump said at the rally in Ohio, as quoted by the Daily Mail.

Meanwhile, the polls showed Clinton losing some of the advantage she had previously gained over Trump, following the news of the FBI revisiting the investigation.