Hillary Clinton emails probe saga continues

She never talks about her goal of becoming the first woman president in US history. People talk. And she rarely speaks of breaking the highest and hardest glass ceiling holding women down. Her supporters say so. But she did announce her choice of an Election Night venue symbolic of this ambition: the enormous Javits Center in New York constructed entirely of glass.
And she is, slowly but surely, inching towards becoming the first female president in American history. But Clinton’s campaign has been overshadowed from the start by allegations that she put US secrets at risk by using a private server based in her home for all email correspondence as secretary of state.
A political earthquake triggered by a fresh FBI email probe rocked Hillary Clinton and her White House campaign on Friday —just a week and a half before the elections. The big jolt came when FBI Director James comey announced that it was opening a new inquiry into the e-mails and private server used by the Democratic candidate.
The probe has been renewed after agents seized a laptop used by Clinton’s closest aide, Huma Abedin, and her now estranged husband, Anthony Weiner.
The revelations spread like wildfire. Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate and Hillary’s rival pounced. Campaigning in the western state of Colorado, which has been leaning toward Clinton, he denounced what he called his opponent’s ‘criminal and illegal conduct,’ to chants of ‘Lock her up!’
“This is the biggest political scandal since Watergate, and it’s everybody’s deepest hope that justice at last will be beautifully delivered,” Trump, 70, told a later rally in Phoenix, Arizona.
But Clinton has not slackened her pace. Media reports citing FBI insiders suggest agents do not yet know whether the latest batch contains any new emails or classified information.
Leading Democratic senators wrote to Comey and his boss, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, urging them to make clear whether the new emails are pertinent to the investigation by Monday night.
Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook sought to play down the impact of the revived email scandal.
“We don’t see it as changing the landscape,” he said, boasting that Clinton supporters were if anything fired up by the battle.
Despite all the efforts by Clinton camp, the emails controversy has taken its toll on presidential candidate’s ratings. Polls grew slightly closer in battleground states like Florida, Nevada and Iowa, as well as nationwide (45.1 percent for Clinton to 40.7 percent for Trump). But Clinton remained the clear favorite.
But despite narrowing polls, an election model published daily in the New York Times and based on various state and national surveys on Sunday gave Clinton a resounding 91 percent chance of winning the presidential vote.
The FBI decision to open fresh chapter in Clinton email controversy has not only put Democratic presidential candidate on a spot, but also put Comey in difficulties. He has become a polarizing figure among the members of Department of Justice, which prohibits such revelations when elections are close. The announcement has convulsed the political world.
It raises many questions. Was Comey’s letter to Congress justified since he already closed the case in July? Or Comey’s decision is politically tinged and is meddling in the presidential elections? Yes or no.
But, in the febrile atmosphere of the closing stages of the race, the controversy could throw Clinton off her game and allow Trump to regain some of the ground lost to his own scandals.
Hence, the responsibility of the election outcome will belong to James Comey.