Hillary Clinton continues to blast FBI Director James Comey for his decision to announce his agency is once again investigating emails that could be related to her use of a private email system.
But Clinton’s No. 1 surrogate – President Barack Obama – isn’t exactly on message.
“The president believes that Director Comey is a man of integrity, he’s a man of principle and he’s a man of good character,” Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Monday.
Earnest said he wouldn’t judge Comey, appointed by Obama in 2013, for making the announcement 11 days before Election Day, which has earned near universal criticism from fellow Democrats.
“I’ll neither criticize nor defend Director Comey’s decisions about what to make public in the context of this investigation, that’s because I just don’t have the independent knowledge of the decisions that are made to release this information,” he said.
Earnest said the White House did not get advance notice of Comey’s letter being sent to Congress on Friday. Obama learned of the letter and decision though the news media.
Comey’s decision to send the letter has caused an uproar in the race and threatened Clinton’s lead over Donald Trump.
The closest Earnest would come to criticism is saying that it broke with protocol to talk about an ongoing investigation.
Clinton’s campaign, meanwhile, has described the letter as “long on innuendo and short on facts” and allowed Republicans to taint Clinton’s imagine in the final days of the election.
On Monday, the campaign released a letter signed by a bipartisan group of nearly 50 former state attorneys general expressing concern over Comey’s recent letter to Congress, calling it “unacceptable” and a “serious mistake.”
Anita Kumar: 202-383-6017, @anitakumar01
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