print 




hmm, how about that? eleven days before the game-changing 2016 presidential election, fbi director james comey announces that his agency is reopening the criminal investigation of former secretary of state hillary clinton . 




all of the expected angst and apoplexy from the left come gushing out. an anti-trump pac issues a complaint against the fbi for interfering with the eletoral process . better still, the clinton campaign issues a statement via <u+2014> of all people <u+2014> its chairman, john podesta. in it, podesta accuses comey of bending to presure brought by <u+201c>donald trump and his republican allies<u+201d> regarding the director<u+2019>s initial determination that no indictment against the former secretary of state should be brought. 




podesta<u+2019>s prepared remarks also paraphrase comey<u+2019>s declaration in july that <u+201c>no reasonable prosecutor would move forward with a case like this,<u+201d> which at the time prompted much head-scratching since he also affirmed that clinton had indeed sent and received classified information using her non-secured private email account . 




call me a conspiracy theorist if you like <u+2014> my colleague benny huang probably would <u+2014> but i have to wonder whether all this is too convenient. could we be witnessing a calculated plan to divert attention from the wikileaks emails, which have been hurting the democratic candidate<u+2019>s standing in the polls? this development might even gain some sympathy for hillary clinton, who has long maintained the vast right-wing conspiracy <u+2014> which, nota bene, includes james comey <u+2014> has it out for the clintons. 




or better yet, suppose that the fbi does put a rush on its investigation, as clinton herself has now demanded, and determines for a second time that there are no grounds for an indictment. 




all the while, the press and impressionable voters would be focused on this probe. envelope, please !
is fbi investigation a ploy to divert attention from wikileaks dumps?
howard portnoy