Transcripts For CNNW Wolf 20161031 : vimarsana.com

Email server. The Clinton Campaign is blasting the fbi director for disclosing the email review days before the president ial election. Well hear what clinton has to say next hour. A rally in ohio and another in cincinnati. Trumps running mate mike pence is in florida. Our senior White House Correspondent jim acosta is covering the Trump Campaign for us. Justice correspondent evan perez has the late effort on the fbi investigation. Jim what is trumps strategy now to capitalize on this email issue . Reporter right, wolf. I think the strategy at this point is reply all. To use an email term. Every chance they get. Donald trump over the last couple of days, hes been hitting this time and again. You recall it was in las vegas yesterday, he actually thanked Anthony Weiner, former congressman, for setting it all into motion and at the last come rallies has been saying that this is only Hillary Clintons fault. She only has her to blame. Talking to a campaign aide, wolf, tells me in the last few minutes that donald trump will hit that message again today, trying to get the point across, they feel like, inside the Trump Campaign, critical at this point, this is not jim comeys fault or the fault of the fbi director but the fault of Hillary Clinton who originally used that private email server. The Trump Campaign and donald trump will say time and again she is to blame not the fbi director. Thats not the only thing donald trump will talk about. Talking about obama care at this rally in grand rapids. They thought that was the october surprise gift last week when it came out that premiums under obama care would go up more than 20 next year, but not all october surprises are created equal. And, also, donald trump will be hitting his economic message, im told, by a campaign aide, pretty hard at this rally. They feel like that that message is tailormade for states like michigan where people are hardhit during the great recession. The question, of course, wolf, is why is donald trump hitting states like michigan, traditionally democratic states. Republicans go for it every four years but just doesnt work out. But they are seeing a tightening of this race inside the Trump Campaign. Obviously our cnn poll of polls shows Hillary Clinton still leading by five percentage points, but theyre saying inside the battleground states looking at individual polls, a tightening of the race, and really, wolf, this email controversy, this new fbi review of these emails, that might be possibly linked to Hillary Clinton, theres no telling at this point how thats going to shake out from a polling standpoint and, of course, donald trump cant win dp he just wins the state mitt romney won four years ago. He has toly. Democrating stateses and doing that later on this week, states like michigan. Evan perez, update us on the actual investigation, sig gan significance of the search warrant . In is very significant simply because the fbi needs to be able to have, needed to have the permission to be able to look at the thousands of emails now found on Anthony Weiners computer. Now, theres a lot of stuff we do not know. We do not know in the end whether this changes anything about the investigation that the fbi concluded back in july, when they decided there was not enough evidence to bring charges against Hillary Clinton. We dont know whether this changes any of that. We dont know how many of these emails might be duplicates and expect maybe a lot will be. We do not the fbi spent several weeks looking at the computer. They looked at some of the mehta data, some of the emails they saw and found that there was reason to believe some of those emails did go through Hillary Clintons private server. Thats one reason why they believe it might be pertinent to this investigation. And heres another thing they know. They know that from what they could see that there were concerns there might be some classified information on some of these emails. Thats whats triggering this investigation. Theyre going to spend some time looking at these emails. Theyll bring in other people to make sure they can determine whether or not there is, indeed, any classified information. Again, a lot of work yet for the fbi to do. Thats one reason why we are told that jim comey, the fib director, despite all calls from republicans and democrats, to provide more information, is unlikely to provide anything more in the next few days. Simply because his agents are still doing a lot of work, wolf. Evan perez. Thanks very much. Bring in our panel. Our cnn politics eder Juana Summers joining us. Molly ball, Political Writer forary the atlantic, and Gloria Borger is here and chief Political Correspondent dana dash. Senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin and former fbi assistant director, tom fuentes, how does the Clinton Campaign, gloria, handle this email issue which came up now a week and a day, very, very strongly, before the election . As you saw last friday, she first came out and raised questions about what fbi director had done. Now they have had their suggest gi surrogates powerfully and in large numbers come out and complain about it including former attorney general eric holder, who while she a friend friend he is a friend of comeys said it was a huge mistake. A breach of protocol, shouldnt have stated his opinion of the case back in july. The original sin, and that he, what he did this time was was wrong. The Justice Department needed to be more involved, and as for hillary herself, what she is doing is continuing on the campaign trail. You will see it today, talking about donald trump as if this doesnt exist, as trying to disqualify him as she does as commander in chief on his temperament, calling him divisive and dangerous, because she does better when talking about donald trump, not about herself. So the focus from her is going to continue to be on trump and try to remind people why they dont trust him to be commander in chief. Thats her job, but its a multipronged strategy. Jeffrey toobin, is eric holder, attorney general during the obama administration, right . This is a unprecedented to have a, the fbi speak out, throw a bomb in the middle of a president ial campaign 11 days out. There is a basic principle in the Justice Department that in the period hold on a mohammed, jeff. The white house briefing. Josh earn effort, White House Press secretary discussing this very issue. Lets listen in. That was not appropriate. Eric holder said that was not the right decision. Before getting into the content of the invest which i know you cant discuss, does the president feel it was appropriate for comey to make that public just days before the election . Josh, i anticipated you wanted to start. I appreciate you noting that over the nearly two years now that ive been answering questions about secretary clintons email system that i have made clear the white house is going to be scrupulous about avoiding even the appearance of political interference in prosecutorial or investigative decisions. And that is a posture that i wont change, and it is a posture that speaks to the kind of institutional responsibilities that are vested here in the white house. Which is preserving the independence and integrity of independent investigations conducted by the department of justice. Now, you raised a question about some of the decisions that have been made to communicate information about those investigations to the public. And whats true is, josh, i dont have any independent knowledge how those decisions were made. I dont know what fooactors wer considered, dating all the way back to july when director comey announced the results of the investigation and spoke at length to the public about his decision not to prosecute secretary clinton. Including in that News Conference were some rather harsh condemnations of the way that secretary clinton handled that situation. Director comey also testified before congress at some length oncamera under oath, and about the investigation, and some of that testimony provided fodder to secretary clintons critics. Over the course of the fall weve seen the fbi move forward in providing other investigative information 302 forms and other documents, to congress. And the fact is, my lack of independent knowledge about that decisionmaking prevents me from weighing in. So i anticipate that this is not the only question im going to get asked about this today, but ill neither defend nor criticize what director comey has decided to communicate to the public about this investigation. What i will say is that the department of justice in our democracy is given expansive authority to conduct investigations. The department of justice is given subpoena power. Theyre allowed to compel witnesses to testify. They are able to collect evidence thats not readily available necessarily. Theyre even allowed to impanel a grand jury. Those are substantial authorities. Its important in the mind of the president that those authorities are tempered by an adherence to longstanding tradition and practice and norms that limit public discussion of facts that are collected in the context of those investigations. And there are a variety of good reasons for that. And the president believes that its important for those norms and traditions and guidelines to be followed. Were they in this case . Well, again, i think youd have to i know theres been a lot of discussion about this. And by discussion i mean a lot of public reporting based on a multitude of Anonymous Sources at the department of justice. The president believes that there are a set of significant institutional responsibilities that officials at department of justice and the fbi must fulfill. The good news is that the president believes director combsy a man of integrity, a man of principle and hes a man of good character. That presumably is the reason that president bush chose him to serve in a senior position at the bush administrational department of justice. These same character traits are what led a Strong Majority of republican and democrats to agree, and its a good thing hes a man of integrity and character to take them on. Youll concede im sure in the absence of any information about this, voters are left to essentially speculate about what might be involved in this, what the fbi might be looking at or not looking at, just before the election. So would the president , in the interests of people being able to not rely on Anonymous Sources and the like see the fbi release more information than comedy in that very brief letter prior to election day about whats going on . Josh, in the same why ill neither criticize nor defend director comeys decisions what to make public in this investigation is because i dont have independent knowledge of the decisions that are made to release this information. And there are other feel that have the luxury of being able to opine, writing opeds or serving with reporters to weigh in with their own view. When im standing here representing the institution of the presidency, i dont have that luxury. In the same way ill neither defend nor criticize directors comeys decision what to or no make public, i dont have any comment with regard to what information should be communicated to the public. In the past, including after the fbi announced that it was not proceeding with a recommendation to bring charges in this case, the white house did defend comey and youve defended him a number of times. So is that a substantive shift in the language youre using today, that you wont defend or criticize him . The fact youre not defending him is that a signal to us that there is reason for the white house to maintain some additional distance here . Well, i think, josh what i have observed in the past is that director combsy a man of inte teg grai integrity, a man of principle, a man wellregarded in senior igss by both parties, served in the bush administrationened got strong bipartisan support when his nomination to be the director of the fbi was considered by the United States senate. So all of those things are true. They speak to his good character, and the president s assessment of his integrity and his character has not changed. For example, the president doesnt believe that director comey is intentionally trying to influence the outcome of an election. The president doesnt believe that hes secretly strategizing to benefit one candidate or one political party. Hes in a tough spot, and hes the one who will be in a position to defend his actions in the face of significant criticism from a variety of legal experts, including individuals who served in Senior Department of justice positions in administrations led by president s in both parties. But, you know, that kind of, that im just not going to be in a position to, frankly, either defend or criticize. The decisions that hed made with what to regard, with regard what to communicate in public. That is separate, josh, from the kind of prosecutorial and investigative decisions made by the fbi and the definite of justice. That is their institutional responsibility. To make those decisions about investigations and prosecutions independent of any sort of political interference and i will defend their right to do that. In fact, its their responsibility. This decision aside, is it concerning at all to the white house that you have the Justice Department and the fbi basically griping at each other in some form of public or semipublic fashion . I mean, they obviously have to work very closely together to keep the country safe. Is there an issue there that needs to be resolved so that the Justice Department isnt accusing the fbi of not following proper procedures . Well, josh, youve heard me discuss the president s view of director comeys integrity and character. Let me just tell you that the president s got a lot of confidence in the attorney general of the United States, Loretta Lynch, to run that department, and she is somebody who spent decades as a career prosecutor. Shes not new to any of this. A lot of that work was done when she was the head of the Eastern District of new york. The u. S. Attorney for the Eastern District of new york. That is a, a position where these kinds of decisions are closely scrutinized by the media thats based in the largest city in our country. So shes used to this kind of pressure. And the president s got complete confidence in her ability to handle this situation responsibly and consistent with the institutional responsibilities that are vested with the department of justice. And one other question on a top take that i know is difficult to talk about for another reason. The president s half brother malik obama published an oped listing a list of grievances. Didnt send condolences after his half brothers sons or children passed away, and he sends saying i will not be humiliated anymore. Does the president have any thoughts about that oped or about the fact that this family issue is playing out so publicly . Josh, i have to admit i have not seen the oped that youre referring to. You know, if we have an official reaction to it, i can followup with you. I spoke to the president about a series of questions you started the briefing with but i had not read the oped and did not ask him about this one, but will followup with you. Thank you. Asia . Thanks. Going back to the fbi. You said that you dont have enough, or the white house does not have enough independent information to either criticize or, or to come out with a position on comeys letter, but then i guess what do you say to the American People, if the white house doesnt have enough information, to decide whether the letter was appropriate or not, seemingly the American People are then left with questions about what to believe. There are lots of criticism right now from both sides, or lots of calls from both sides of the aisle asking director comey to release more information. Do you feel that the American People dont have a right to more information about this probe . I mean, they are going to the voting booths right now and next tuesday . Well, look, this is an entirely legitimate question to ask and these are the kinds of questions that are being carefully considered at the department of justice right now, and given the institutional responsibilities that are vested here at the white house, you know, i just dont have a recommendation to make. Its important for them to make these decisions, consistent with their let me be more precise here. Its important for officials at the department of justice and the fbi to make these decisions consistent with independent responsibilities. And as i made reference to earlier, those officials at the department of justice and the fbi are given expansive authority and expansive powers to intrude on the privacy of private citizens. And that authority is tempered by longstanding traditions and norms and guidelines that largely avoid extensive public discussion of those investigations. An example i think will resonate with all of you based on your day to day responsibilities here at the white house. It is not uncommon for you, when you call the department of justice, asking them to even confirm that theres an investigation ongoing for them to decline to do that. Typically when you report about the fact theres an Ongoing Investigation, thats not based on official confirmation youve received from an official at the department of justice. Its based on confirmation youve received from an an anonymous official not wereill to speak publicly about the case, because it would be improper for them to can do so. That, in a way that we all in a way that reflects the reality of the world we all work in on a daytoday basis i they underscores the sense tiitivity discussing this information. The other thing theres a tendency to say, with regard to this letter written on friday, to say, well, congress is independent, and they have their own independent oversight responsibilities to exercise over the department of justice. Well, let me say a couple things about that. The first is the kinds of norms and traditions that limit the Public Disclosure of investigations dont supersede the oversight responsibilities or requests that are submitted by members of congress. And the reason for that is simple. Congress is, indeed, independent of the executive branch, but far from impartial. Congress is made up of 535 politicians. Democrats and republicans, and weve already seen just in the last 72 hours the kind of risk that is associated with communicating to them sensitive information. Theres one senior republican official who is already indicated, who had previously endorsed the republican nominee for president who let it slip that his party was considering impeaching president clinton even before shes been elected, if shes elected. Thats, i think, a pretty clear indication that congress is not at all impartial. And, you know, thats why many of these norms, longstanding norms, that apply even when were not talking about someone famous and even not talking an an election being a week and a half away that should apply and the president believes that these norms are important and worth upholding. So the president believes these norms are worth upholding, but it seems like in this case, comey, these letters, or what people are saying these norms werent upheld . Were talking an an Ongoing Investigation because a letter was sent. So i guess im trying to parse out, so where does the white house stand on that, on just as a general issue having an Ongoing Investigation that is now being discussed . And, look, this is, this goes to the fact that because we have worked to shield this investigation, given the politically sensitive nature of it, frankly, even if it werent politically sensitive, we would go to great lengths, be scrupulous about insulating that independent investigation from the, from eastern the appearance of political interference. So i dont have any independent knowledge of the investigation or the kinds of decisions that led director comey to take the steps that he did to communicate some of this investigation, or some of the material relevant to this investigation to the congress and to the public. So, again, im not in a position to either defend or criticize that decision. Thats thats thats something that officials at department of jut justice and the fbi have to do. So senator reid said that the fbi has some explosive information regarding trump, and russian ties, and theres some basically hes accusing the fbi of having a double standard and not releasing information like that, and he and other lawmakers called for the fbi to release that information. Does the white house have any position on that . Are you concerned that now you have you have more kind of accusations going around about fbi probes . Look, as i mentioned before, you know, the white house has not been briefed on the investigation has the department of justice and the fbi were conducting into secretary clintons email system. The white house has not been briefed on even the existence of any investigation into the activities or habits of the republican nominee. These are all questions that should be directored to the department of justice and to the fbi. Okay . Thanks, josh. Going back to senator reids letter. He basically accused the fbi director of potentially violating the hatch act and youve said that you believe that director comey is a man of integrity and in the letter that senator reid sent, he said that he once believed that director comey was a principled servient. What is your reaction to that . The hatch act should be directed to the office of special counsel. An independent agency filled with attorneys and investigators who among their responsibilities are investigating potential violations of the hatch act. But, again, youll have to talk to them to even confirm the existence of an investigation let alone learn more about what they have concluded. With regard to director comey, as i said at the top, the president believes hes a man of integrity. A man of character. Hes a man of principle. And hes got very different job. And those character traits i just described will serve him well as he works through the difficult challenges that he faces over the course of his job. You said you there he is. White House Press Secretary josh earnest speaking about the fbi director james comey decisions. Very controversial decision to go ahead and notify congress that his office has been investigating emails on the computer belonging to clinton aide huma abedin and her estranged husband Anthony Weiner. The White House Press secretary repeatedly saying hes neither going to defend nor criticize comeys decision. Hes in a tough spot, he said. He is a man of integrity and at the same time said there be longstanding, longstanding traditions in the Justice Department, in the Law Enforcement community to be followed. This is institutional responsibilities, presumably referring to this tradition within 60 days of an election youre not supposed to go out and make these kinds of statements. I was talking to Jeffrey Toobin. Jeffrey, its on the heels of the former attorney general, eric holder, served in the obama administration, saying that comey has committed a serious error with potentially severe implications. A stunning breach of protocol. And perhaps more importantly, larry thompson, former Deputy Attorney general under johnish kro John Ashcroft under the bush and r administration. Striking about the letter. Its not just democrats attacking it, because this norm that josh earnist was talking about is snag really is ingrained at the department of justice, which is that you stay out of elections. That is something that even a lowly assistant u. S. Attorney like me, when we were investigating members of the city council or lowlevel political officials always under investigation by the Justice Department is that you stay away from the election time and the idea that director comey would do this when he didnt even have any specific evidence against Hillary Clinton, when he just said there were these emails out there and we dont know their significance, that set off a backlash that transcends just democratic officials. Tom fuentes, you served in the fbi your entire career and got to the ranch of assistant fbi director. Whats your reaction to what we just heard from the white house and we heard from these other officials . Well, what id like to hear are the former department of justice officials comment on is, this really started when bill clinton boarded Loretta Lynchs airplane a matter of a few days before the interview of the fbi of his wife, the main subject of the email investigation. And that meeting lasted more than 30 minutes. So it had to be more than hello, how are ya . See ya later. They had some kind of a discussion. They say golf, and children, grandchildren, but it was a more than 30minute meeting, completely inappropriate. When the attorney general was confronted with the fact it was inappropriate, she makes the announcement, doesnt say, im recusing myself from the clinton case, and my Deputy Attorney general will take over. She doesnt say, the career prosecutors professionals will take over my role in this case. She says, im completely deferring to director comey. Thats what starts the whole problem is, then that gives comey license to do the press conference on july 5th which i myself questioned as well that he did it, but he did it, and he goes on july 5th to announce that that never would have happened if the attorney general didnt start the ball rolling for him to be in the did comey do the right thing going ahead and making this announcement . Now that you started this thing and testified before congress, when you have an investigation it was closed. It wasnt cloeded. Hes is complete and closed and Loretta Lynch announced shortly afterward the case against all the primary subjects of this are closed also. This is done. When its finished, you no longer have the restriction of, you cant comment on a pending investigation. Not pending. When he testifies to congress and gives a lot of details about the case, wasnt commenting on a pending case at the time and i think thats why he felt compelled to send the letter last week and comey didnt make this public. Somebody at congress he knew as soon as he sent the letter out, it would come out within a nano second. And harry reid says comey actually may have broken the lisle, vit aviolating the hatch act . Talked to a representative of reid. They got the ball rolling on an attack line through a potential legal fight is they say the way the hatch act is written, you can check this as a legal expert, is its about intent. Meaning, if you are in the government, and you intend to do something that is a political action, then that is something that is not legal. When youre in the executive branch like he is, and that by saying what he said in a press conference and on capitol hill, making clear that he didnt think Hillary Clinton did the right thing, and subsequently by doing what he did now with these emails, reopening the investigation, that that and not doing anything on the flip side, that that is in and of itself political. What they argued. They havent gone as far as making an actual claim or trying to actually challenge it in a formal way, but thats why theyre doing that. Look, seems potentially a bit of a reach. A talking point were talking about right now and sort of another angle for them to go at. So thats that. I have to say that just on josh earnest, which weve been listening to the past 20 minutes, you dont need a nagifying glass to read between the line whats he was saying. Saying im nothing got talk about it, but really nice if he would follow the prot call jeff was talking about. Cant say more that than, but didnt have to. Pretty clear what hes saying on behalf of the president. Talk about threading the needle . You know . Were staying out this. What about the accepted are nos were used to abiding by and he didnt abide by it . Guidelines need to be followed. Molly, i want to play for you a clip our other jake tapper had with the Clinton Campaign chairman john podesta yesterday. Listen to this. Shes still part of the campaign . Of course, yes. Working on the campaign . Yeah. Absolutely. Shes been played a central and vital role in this campaign, and she continues to do that, and continues to do her work. Running our overall scheduling in advance operation being a confidant to the senior, people in the campaign and traveling with hillary. She doesnt travel every day but travels frequently with her. Were talking about huma abedin, longtime aide to Hillary Clinton. So whats going to be the impact on her in the short term as far as the remaining few days of this campaign and if Hillary Clintons elected president does she get to serve in the white house with the new president of the United States . Theres so much uncertainty here. The Clinton Campaign doesnt know whats going on. The white house says they dont know whats going on with the investigation. The Trump Campaign certainly doesnt know and theyre not making decisions. We have not seen huma on the plane today or yesterday. Theyre keeping her out of the spotlight for her sake probably. Something we know from the hacked and released emails from the state department and her entire career, Hillary Clinton tends to be loyal to a fault, to the people she feels she can trust. A very small group of people. A lot of people in various trouble and clintons generally stay loyal to them, generally protect them, if they feel somebody had their back. Clinton people that ive spoken to feel like this might hurt her chances of having a high official place in the administration, but in terms of her personal relationship with Hillary Clinton, thats not seeming to be in jeopardy. Listen. Hold on a second. Donald trump just spoke about the fbi director comey and his decision. Let me play the clip for our viewers. And i have to give the fbi credit. That was so bad what happened originally and it took guts for director comey to make the move that he made in light of the kind of opposition he had trying to protect her from criminal prosecution. You know that. It took a lot of guts. I really disagreed with him. I was not his fan, but ill tell you what, what he did, he brought back his reputation. He brought it back. Hes got a what happens if within the next few days comey announced, you know what . Nothing there. Were moving on . Right. I dont think theres any problem that donald trump has with saying mutually exclusive things about james comb pip sort of a theme on both sides of this campaign. Juana, has there been indication of the actual political fallout from this decision on friday by comey to go ahead and inform congress that he was going to review these related issues . I dont think enough time passed to really know. Were in the final eight days of the election. More than 18 million americans already cast ballots. We see a lot of polling at this point. Its hard to look at the national polls, and the average we see, our cnn polls of polls tells us this is still a really tight race. Right now not a lot of information and frankly the state of where things are now, you saw it in the briefing, too. Really raises more questions than it actually answered. The average american probably doesnt quite understand what its going on well enough to decide whether or not it will impact their ballot, if they havent cast a ballot already. Can i say how shakespearean all of this is . When you talk about huma abedin who is like Hillary Clintons second daughter. Theyre that close. And how painful that must be on that front. And to toms point. If bill clinton had not sat down on that airplane last summer with secretary lynch, would she have been in a position, or should she still have been, but would she have been in a position to say, huhuh. The Justice Department is going to speak on this. Not the fbi, and would everything have been differ . You forgot the Anthony Weiner part. And the Anthony Weiner i was getting to that. Kind of the on that note, everybody, stay with us. Former prosecutor, former Justice Department officials, theyre turning up the heat on the fbi director james comey sending a letter criticizing comeys decision on this clinton email investigation. Were going to talk to one of the people who signed that letter. Also this now that fedex has helped us simplify our ecommerce, we could focus on bigger issues, like our passive aggressive environment. Were not passive aggressive. Hey, hey, hey, there are no bad suggestions here. No matter how lame they are. Well said, ann. Ive always admired how you just say whats in your head, without thinking. Very brave. Good point ted. Youre living proof that looks arent everything. Thank you. Welcome. So, fedex helped simplify our ecommerce business and this is not a passive aggressive environment. I just wanted to say, you guys are doing a great job. Whats that supposed to mean . Fedex. Helping Small Business simplify ecommerce. [aand ive never seen a rocketge ship take off like this. 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And if you do have an accident, our claims centers are available to assist you twentyfour seven. For a free quote call Liberty Mutual at switch to Liberty Mutual and you could save up to 509. Call today at liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. The fbi director james comey has come irnd lots of fire from democrats and career investigators for his handling now of the Hillary Clinton email case. Senate democratic leader harry reid even accusing comey of possibly violating the law. The socalled hatch act, which says, federal employees may not use official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the results of an election. Peter zeidanberg is a former assistant u. S. Attorney for the district of columbia, later served with the u. S. Department of justice Public Integrity section andalities one of 99 former federal prosecutors and highranking Justice Department officials who signed a letter about director comey saying in part is unprecedented decision on what may be an ongoing inquiry just 11 days before a president ial election leaves us both astonished and perplexed. We do not question director comeys motives however the fact remains the directors disclosure invited considerable uninformed public speck lace about the significance of newly discovered material just days before a national election. Peter, thanks for joining us. Why did you decide to sign this letter . Wolf, as the letter said, wolf, this is unprecedented, and disturbing. There is a long tradition of not acting so close to the election, and the nature of this announcement just invited speculation and mischief from the other side. Because when he announced in early july he was not going to recommend criminal charges against Hillary Clinton, he then testified before congress and he did say under, during his testimony, to members of congress, if theres a new development, ill let you know. Presumably, he was thinking, i made that promise. Ive got to live up to that. Presumably. Well i think in retrospect it may have been, it was a poor decision to tell them, ill keep you updated, because thats not the job of the fbi to constantly inform congress as an investigation is ongoing, but more to the point, wolf, i dont think this warranted an update. This was just too preliminary. Once they had done a review of the emails and found something, perhaps then if he felt i had made a prior representation that i will keep them updated, maybe at that point theres something substantive to update them on, but simply saying, we found a ton of emails, and were going to look at them and see whats in them, thats all that if the public reports are to be believed, thats all that they know right now. So at that point, what is it that that hes updating them on and it allows the public and, you know, people who are partisans to get involved with this and to make way more of this than perhaps is warranted . Because we have no idea whats in those emails, if anything important. So how does he fix this from your standpoint . What should he do immediately, if anything, between now and november 8th, the election . You know, i dont know how you put this, you know, unring this bell, put his back in the bottle. Its very difficult. You know, you cant just release all of these emails. Who knows whats in them . That would be irresponsible as well. I think, you know, it may be warranted to make a statement that, in fact, there is no there there, but he doesnt know that . That he doesnt know theres any there there. There may be something there, may not be anything there. They simply dont know yet. I mean, thats the case everyday fbi agents or investigators go to work. Right . Every day something could happen. There could be a phone call. Someone could walk in the door with new information. You know, unless you get that information and you vet it, then theres nothing to report. Peter zeidanberg, thanks very much for coming in. Appreciate your perspective. Happy to. Thank you very much. Coming up, paul ryan faces a tough fight to hold on to his speakership amid turmoil. Fellow republicans criticizing his tepid support of donald trump. Well talk to a republican congressman who says an effort to oust the speaker could be growing. Well be right back. 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Unitedhealthcare Insurance Company has over thirty Years Experience and the commitment to roll along with you, keeping you on course. So call now and discover how an aarp Medicare Supplement plan could go long™ for you. These are the only Medicare Supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp, an Organization Serving the needs of people 50 and over for generations. Plus, nine out of ten plan members surveyed say they would recommend their plan to a friend. Remember, medicare doesnt cover everything. The rest is up to you. Call now, request your free decision guide and start gathering the information you need to help you keep rolling with confidence. Go long™. Joining us now, North Carolina republican congressman mark med dose, a member of the House Oversight committee and Foreign Affairs committee and also a donald trump supporter. Congressman, thank you for joining us. Its great to be with you, wolf. Thanks. Very quickly, your reaction to what we just heard from josh earnest, White House Press secretary. They dont want to criticize or defend comeys decision, hes a man of integrity, they say, but there are longstanding traditions that should prevent guidelines, institutional responsibilities, prevent these kind of statements, presumably, from coming forward just before an election. What was your reaction . Well, obviously, its a good thing that he didnt come out to criticize or defend. Theres plenty of people that are going to do both of those things, wolf. Really when we look at it, this was director comey following up on testimony that he gave before my committee, where he made a commitment to us and the American People that he would, if anything, substantial change, that he would let us know. Obviously, he did that. But even before that, we talk about longstanding traditions. None of this would have happened without a private server, wolf. We somehow forget the nexus between what were talking about today and what were really asking the American People to weigh in on. The former attorney general during the bush administration, alberto gonzales, he said the fbi director has made an error in judgment in terms of releasing this kind of letter, which really says nothing. I take it you disagree with alberto gonzales. Well, i disagree with him. I mean, a number of people are going to say, well, this breaks protocol. Well, weve never had a nominee for the highest office in the land that has been under federal investigation at time that the American People have to make a decision. I would like to error on the side of transparency. Hopefully, thats what the administration wants to do. And certainly, i agree with the direction that director comey took on this. She was cleared of any wrongdoing, criminal wrongdoing, even though the fbi director said she was extremely careless in dealing with classified information. He recommended against any criminal charges being put forward. And they havent really reopened this case right now. Theyre reviewing some details that may or may not be related. Its unfair to say right now shes under criminal investigation, right . Well, i dont know that its unfair. Obviously, theyre reopening the case s what director comey has said. Look at this additional information. He said theyre reviewing information, and then theyll presumably, then theyll make a decision. Youre accurate. Whether or not to reopen. Youre accurate there. I just want to precise. I appreciate it. No, i appreciate that. Youre a good journalist and so well, thank you. Thank you very much. Lets talk quickly about paul ryan, the speaker. Are you with him to remain as speaker or not . Hes been sort of tepid, as you know, in his support of donald trump, a man you want to be the next president. Well, you know, his supporter or where hes been on that really is something that the vast majority of the American People are really not focused on. Theyre focused on one thing, november 8th, whos going to be the next president. And so, as we start to look at that, all eyes, especially here in North Carolina, are really on that battleground states, on whos going to be the nominee. So, whos the speaker is really a lower concern to most americans in terms of what is important to them. So, at this point, i know of no one running against the speaker and so it could very well be that he is running unopposed in january. And really, thats a discussion that will happen long after november 8th, wolf. How much disappointment, anger, if you will, within the Republican Freedom caucus, as its called, you would like to run, i take it, to head that freedom caucus, if congressman jim jordan steps down, how much disappointment in the speaker has there been . Well, theres been a lot reported on, it wolf. Im glad you bring it up because really weve had little, if no conversations. I can tell you most of my conversations have been with jim jordan, as you mentioned, about ohio because its a swing state. In terms of leadership races, there has not been any official meetings or official discussions as it relates to that. I think everybody has it on hold and wants to make sure that we keep the main thing, the main thing, and thats about getting our nominee elected to the office of president. Mark meadows, republican congressman from North Carolina, key battleground state. Well be watching that state together with you very, very closely on tuesday, congressman. Thanks very much for joining us. Thank you, wolf. Thank you. Thats it for me. Ill be back 5 00 p. M. Eastern in tthe situation room. The news will continue on cnn right after a quick break. Im only in my 60s. Ive got a nice long life ahead. Big plans. 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Get 30 off your first delivery blueapron. Com cook. Again, shes on the defensive about the use of her private email server while her opponent, donald trump, is pouncing. Clinton is set to speak this hour in the battleground state of ohio. All the while, federal investigators are poring through what is believed to be thousands upon thousands of newly discovered emails belonging to her righthand woman, a woman who she once referred to as her surrogate daughter, huma abedin