Emails. And then the letters comey sent to the hill, one saying we found more emails on Anthony Weiners laptop that could be pertinent to our investigation, we need to look at those, and then his followup letter a few days before the election in which he said, weve done that review and we havent had anything. Hillary clinton herself has said she thinks that first letter in late october changed the course of the election. So, the Inspector General is going to look at that and a couple of ancillary things. There have been allegations that an fbi Deputy Director should have taken himself off part of this case because of some connections to the campaign or his wifes connections to the political to politics in virginia. Some allegations that an Assistant Attorney General for legislative affairs passed information along to the Clinton Campaign, and other employees disclosed nonpublic information. The Foeklecal Point is the two actions by the fbi director, the letter to the hill in late
october and november. Thanks so much. Former Clinton CampaignSenior AdviserJoel Benenson weighing in on todays news of the Inspector General review. Heres what he told my Colleague Katie can tur a few minutes ago. The real question here, is it appropriate for the fbi and the fbi watchdog to investigate behavior they think violated Fbi Practices in the course of Conducting Investigations and engaging in public conversation about that . I think thats appropriate. No ones trying to get a doover in the election. Thats not going to happen. Nobody says its going to happen. But when Public Officials abuse or potentially abuse their authority and their office, that investigation theres not a statute of limitations that says when the election is over were not going to go back and look at the behavior of a prosecutor who was advised not to do this 11 days out, who was criticized by former fbi professionals from both parties for doing so, to look into that. For more on all this, i want to bring in stanley pottenger,
former civil rights attorney at the department of justice. Thank you for coming in in a hurry. I know you had to rush to get here. Lets talk about the reaction. We just heard Joel Benenson. We actually heard from republican congressman Jason Chaffetz say he supports this investigation. You served at the justice department. First of all, are you surprised the Inspector General would get involved or does this seem seem, in your view, an appropriate use of time . Yes, its unusual. But the entire episode hes investigating is unusual. The thing Pete Williams talked about is the thing to keep in mind. Are you investigating the substance and the prosecutorial, the answer is no, apparently. Or are you talking about how it was handled, the publication of documents. That is appropriate for the i. G. , the Inspector General to use. Apparently, thats what hes going to focus on. What hes focused in part on
carefully. I would not be surprised if you find that james comey defends his position pretty effectively. The Inspector General right now, i dont know if you know him, a man named michael horowitz, started as Assistant Attorney in new york, moved to the department of justice. Many years in doj. In 2012 he becomes the i. G. Hes appointed by the president , President Obama. Its my understanding, is it a tenyear term for the Inspector General . I think thats right. It may be. I know theres a tenyear term for the director of the fbi. Typically there are very few tenyear terms. This could be. Well check that. My question was going to be, what happens now . So, donald trump, takes office next week. He can replace this Inspector General or is he going to continue with this investigation no matter what . If he has a tenyear term, he can only be replaced for cause. Theres no indication there is cause. If he doesnt have a tenyear term, he will be replaced. The new attorney general,
presumably jeff sessions, will have to decide, does he continue it with the existing staff, shut it down or change it . Thats why we have more questions right now than answers. In terms of how quickly all of this could play out and whether lets assume he stays on this investigation, the Inspector General, what he does, what are the possibilities in terms of reprimand, punishment . I mean, what can happen with an i. G. Report . Thats a really good question. The answer is very little because the hes investigating the people who actually do the prosecuting. It isnt likely theyre going to turn around and prosecute themselves if he recommended there was something. The truth is, i dont think hes looking a prosecutal crime. Hes looking as who the department and then presumably the public and press what happened. That means what hes doing is basically a report to the public about what happened, but not something that will involve criminal prosecution. Joel benenson said last hour that he doesnt think any of
this will impact what happened. I mean, the past is past. The election is over. I want to play some sound, though, if i can, from Hillary Clinton. This is at a party with donors. She was talking about the impact she believes that comeys letter made right before the elections. Take a listen. Dont take it from me, take it from independent analysts, take it from the trump campaign, take it from nate silver whos point out that Swing State Voters made their decisions in the final days breaking against me because of the fbi letter from Director Comey, and nate silver believes, i happen to believe this, that that letter most likely made the difference in the outcome. Again, this investigation does not look at that. Pete williams said its not going to look at whether everything that happened impacted the election or not. In your view, as former Assistant Attorney General, do you think it . You said the elections over. Apparently its not over. Everybody is talking about it. Until the 20th, news will start to turn to events instead of speculation. Dont think it will make much difference. I was sorry she cited nate silver. I like him. I read it. He missed it. He missed this elections. He missed brexit. He doesnt have a record right now that says his polling is hitting the buttons. Im want sure that helped her make that claim. Now, do i make her for making that claim . Not at all. You know, shes handling this as well as she can having lost a surprisingly lost the election n her view. I dont think it will make a difference by the time this is over. In terms of the new investigation . Yeah. I think well learn something more but we have this big flipflop. You remember in the summer everyone was singing the praises of jim comey because he had exonerated republicans. Republicans were mad. Excuse me, democrats. Democrats were singing praises. Right. Then when he lost, democrats were furious with him. I think the American Public understands that to some extent our perspective is warped by the results we want. Thats true for both sides, democrats and republicans. Thank you for your analysis. Thank you for coming in quickly, former Assistant Attorney General. Almost promoted you. In the Civil Rights Division of the department of justice. Nice to have you. Turning now to the current commander in chief, President Obama and a Parting Tribute ForVice President joe biden scheduled for this hour. Nbc news senior White House CorrespondentChris Jansing is live at the white house. Chris, i said the words, so now we can say this is happening, but all day weve been waiting because it seemed like it was a bit of a surprise for joe biden . Reporter yeah its supposed to be a secret, is what were told. Its hard to imagine how within those walls and given the small number of people who were involved in the planning of this that joe biden doesnt suspect something. Already people are gathering there. We are told that those seats are
being reserved for family, for friends. Chris dodd, the former senator from connecticut has been spotted. You can bet there will be dignitaries there as well as as well, not the least of whom will be the president , mrs. Obama and, of course, Vice President biden and his wife jill. This is something that is sort of a story many people have found to be tremendously unexpected. These two men who would seem to be so very different, who came so very close over the course of the last eight years when they have served together. They ran against each other in 2007. Generations apart. Firstterm senator from illinois and a senator for, i think, it was, seven terms, six youngest when he came in in 1972, joe biden was from delaware. He left to be the fourth most senior senator. When he said he would do this. When he said, ill become your Vice President. The only ask he this is i wanted
to be the last guy in the room. He didnt want to be one of those Vice President s who was merely ceremonial. And pretty much, he says, the president kept his word. He relied on him pretty heavily, were told, for that first term for his Foreign Policy expertise. He was chairman of the Foreign Relations committee for a time, he was chairman for a time of the Senate Judiciary committee. But its not just policy where we have seen all those pictures of them huddled in the oval office. They have become just really good friends. In fact, the way Time Magazine put it was, the Great American broman krechlt. Not just a bromance, but the Great American bromance. There have been plenty of photos and videos of them, everything from running down the halls of the white house. No one quite knew what they were running to, to some of the most emotional times theyve ever had. It was the president who delivered the eulogy at the
funeral of joe bidens son, beau. They were together in the rose garden when joe biden announced he would not run against Hillary Clinton for president of the united states. A very close friendship, not just between these two men, but between their families as well. Theyve spent a tremendous amount of personal time together. In is a time for the president to say thank you, to say more about what vie Presidece Presid meant to him. He had a chance to start that at the farewell address, calling out the scrappy kid from scranton who became delawares favorite son and drawing who is familiar who follows joe biden, that air gun he gave in that moment, but were expecting a tribute and an emotional time for everyone who was involved, as we have seen many members of the white house staff and the president and first lady, Vice President and dr. Jill biden as well acknowledging that its
become much more emotional to them as their last days near. Chris, if anyone saw that Andrea Mitchell interview a couple hours ago on her program, the emotion was right there, as joe biden she spoke with joe biden and the Vice President expressed his love, he called it love, for President Obama. Again, what were waiting for right now is we think a surprise for the Vice President. Although hard to know if he really could if it could be kept quiet in the white house. But it is President Obama who will be basically hosting a farewell for Vice President biden. If i can ask, we know a little bit i know a little bit has been reported about joe bidens next move and his plans after the white house, after being Vice President. I read hell be working with a couple universities. What more do we know . Reporter he said hes been made a lot of different ofrsz. Its interesting. He seems to be in the same head space as a lot of the senior staff. I know people dont necessarily
believe this, that the president , the first lady, the Vice President , all these members of the senior staff, jill biden as well, havent had a tremendous amount of time to lay down in stone exactly what theyre going to do. Obviously, when you have come from this stage, the world is your oyster. Joe biden is very open about this, his goal for many, many years, for decades, really, was to become president of the united states. That does seem to be behind him at age 73 now, but he is going to do some teaching. As he and others have said, theyre going to do a little bit of sleeping. Something they are very much looking forward to do. Spending time with his family. You know, he did go back throw himself back into work after the death of his son, beau. He was out for a while but has been really key for a lot of the issues that have come up in this last year or so of this administration. Hes continued to work very hard. So, theres some time for him to spend with his family, with jill biden. You know, when you think about where he came from, again, you know, for somebody with a long career in the senate and how different they were, somebody with that experience coming into politics as opposed to barack obama, who comparatively was a relative newcomer and people who seemed to have very different approaches to things. The fact they have become so close, i would not rule out ive had some conversations about this, but i would not rule out the possibility you will see him and barack obama working together on some of the initiatives that eventually are decided upon by this president , where he wants to have influence moving forward. Its not as if a key is going to turn, another family will move into the white house and these folks are going to scatter to the wind. Many of the senior officials will continue to work with obama, either on private staff or as part of his library
foundation. Those things havent been announced yet but they will happen. I think theres going to be a long time for joe biden to continue in some way in a different kind of Public Service, kate. Chris, stay there. Dont move. I want to bring in also lynn sweet, Washington Bureau chief at the chicago sun times, that being the president s sort of adopted hometown newspaper. Nice to see you. How are you . Good afternoon. Good afternoon. As we wait and look at this room where we expect the president to come out, and were not quite sure what to expect, but we have been told by the pool note that it will be in honor of joe biden. Talk about lynn, talk about their relationship and talk about what you think we might hear out of the president. Well, the relationship really started in iowa when they were running against each other in that democratic primary. And it was not a hard decision in the end for the obama team to select biden as vice
president ial candidate. The announcement was made in springfield, illinois, where obama had kicked off his campaign. And the relationship not only between the president and Vice President , but between dr. Jill biden and First Lady Michelle Obama has also rypiened through the years, too. Theyve worked on their joining forces initiative. Im sure they will chris kroris all four of them, throughout their lives. Not only with biden with his Cancer Moonwalk and the various enterprises. I would bet there will be a lot of humor, a little ribbing, a little, you know, this isnt a towel snap sort of joking, but those two right, chris, they have a little bit of a schtick when theyre together . Chris, we havent gotten any word on timing. We were told 3 00. But there was a lot of secrecy around this whole event. Reporter then we got 15
minutes late. I dont know Whats Going On behind the scenes. I keep checking my iphone. There is this sort of ribbing that goes on. When you look at some of the memes of them together, the pictures of them together, there are a lot of pictures that pete sousa and other white house photographers have taken where it seems like theyre holding hands, where theyre laughing. They love to laugh together. Theyve had a lot of light moments ago. And theyre also both can, as weve seen, you mentioned the Andrea Mitchell interview with Vice President biden and the president in chicago, they can also get emotional. Well watch for that. Very clearly, you know, the yin and yang, mr. Cool and mr. Emotional, thats been fascinating to see how that goes because joe biden is someone who wraps someone he barely knows into a bear hug. When you think of it, We Couldnt HaveWe Couldnt Have done a