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From NBC’s Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann
A week out from Election Day, here’s the only thing we’re sure of after Friday’s bombshell political news that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is one again looking at Hillary Clinton’s emails: Another U.S. institution — the FBI — has taken a hit. (It’s especially true after all of the obvious leaks coming from the FBI and Justice Department.) And that news isn’t good for the country’s democracy. Back in 2014, our national NBC/WSJ poll looked at Americans’ confidence in 15 different institutions and industries, and majority had confidence in just two of them. So this lack of confidence in American institutions was taking place BEFORE this presidential election, and you can only imagine what the situation is going to look like afterwards. As for Comey and his decision to make his announcement 11 days before an election, we understand he was in a lose-lose situation. (If he withheld this information before the election, it could have been equally damaging.) But the problem was how vague Comey’s letter to Congress was, as well as the fact that it was sent before the FBI even had access to the emails. It’s hard to reconcile Comey being so transparent with a July press conference and then testimony to Capitol Hill — over a matter where there were no charges — and then so opaque in a letter to Congress just days before the election. |
