By Marguerite Girandola
Staff Reporter
On Friday, Oct. 28 director of the FBI, James Comey, wrote a letter to Congress stating that he has decided to reopen the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s emails.
This announcement came out just eleven days before the national election.
According to The New York Times, the FBI came across emails that may be relevant to the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private server during a separate investigation of Anthony Weiner, who’s estranged wife is a longtime Clinton aide.
There is currently a tug of war happening on both sides of the political spectrum. On one side, many people are criticizing the timing of Comey’s decision, arguing that he may be violating the Hatch Act.
According to the Associated Press, the Hatch Act bars federal employees from using their official authority to influence an election.
“It’s extremely unnerving and unsettling that Comey would take advantage of his power like this,” said junior Emily Helldorfer. “The fact that he is willing to come out and drop this bombshell on the American people without any other information, knowing very well the likelihood of this affecting the outcome of the election, is preposterous.”
On the other hand, many people are praising the FBI director because they think that Comey’s actions prove that there are no emails of Clinton’s that reflect something substantial enough to indict her.
“I don’t think Comey did it for political reasons,” said junior MariaGabriela Mossa. “He had an opportunity to indict her the first time around and he had a lot of information that could have put Clinton in jail, but he didn’t. I think he has some pretty damaging stuff on her for him to reopen it, thanks to Anthony Weiner.”
Moreover, some find it difficult to understand how it could be suggested that Comey violated the Hatch Act.
“There is no violation of the Hatch Act because his actions, although relevant to the election, were not in any way partisan,” said Dr. Gary Rose, Chair in the Department of Government, Politics and Global Studies. “That is a ludicrous accusation and one that hardly reflects the intent of the Hatch Act.”
The FBI, under increased pressure to reveal any new information before the polls opened on Nov. 8, has spent numerous days investigating the original leaked email claims made in July.
“Comey was under tremendous pressure from Democrats and Republicans to reveal what new evidence was discovered,” said Rose.
On Sunday, Nov. 6, the FBI determined that the re-opened investigation had ended, because there was no further information provided that differed from the original case.
“Based on our review, we have not changed our conclusions that we expressed in July with respect to Secretary Clinton,” said Comey in a letter to congressional leaders.
While analyzing the original case, as well as the emails on Weiner’s phone, there was no additional evidence against Clinton.
Despite the conclusion from the FBI, some students are tired of the ongoing scandals and corruption that they decided not to participate in the voting that took place Nov. 8.
“I can’t believe the standard in which the American people are settling for people trying to attain the highest office in the land,” said junior Constance Cuccurese. “It leaves me dumbfounded that candidates on both sides have such awful scandals surrounding their campaigns, and because of that, I do not have the heart to vote for either of them.”
The investigation into Clinton’s emails is no longer ongoing and has officially come to a close.
“I know she had other aspects of her platform, such as Benghazi, that bothered people, so this just added to the list. I’m not surprised that the FBI found her not guilty because we were too close to the election for the nominee to be changed now if it was a problem,” said senior Heather Leone.
AP contributed information to this article.
Co-News Editor Alexa Binkowitz contributed to this article.
