As much as far right-wing conservative Republicans what you to believe it, the FBI did not reopen its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server. What Republicans fail to mention is the investigation was never closed, so there is not an investigation to reopen. In the letter sent by FBI director James Comey to members of Congress on Friday, he stated that in an unrelated matter, the FBI is looking into emails that may pertain to the investigation.
Comey went on to say in the letter that his team needs time to determine if the emails from another matter contained any type of classified information. He further added that the FBI does not know if the material is significant or not. Headlines on Friday exclaimed, “The FBI will reopen the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server.” However, as the dust started to settle, several news agencies were able to report that the FBI is reviewing new material that may or may not be pertinent.
What is accurate is that the FBI will place the same scrutiny on the new material as the agency did to emails found in Hillary Clinton’s private server. As many news outlets reported in error, the FBI is not reopening the investigation because of some new bombshell evidence.
Although the revelation came 11 days before the election causing many Democrats to speculate on the FBI director’s motives, Comey was actually required to notify Congress under the rules outlined by the Department of Justice. The bottom line is Comey had no choice, and the statement to Congress did not address the reopening of an investigation, as much as Republicans want you to believe that the FBI was indeed reopening a closed investigation.