WASHINGTON _ President Barack Obama has waded into the choppy waters left by FBI Director James Comey's revelation of new emails connected to the private server Hillary Clinton used while secretary of state.
White House officials had largely refrained from commenting about the disclosure, which came just over a week before voters will decide between Clinton or GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.
On Monday, Press Secretary Josh Earnest declined to weigh in on Comey's decision to notify Congress about a renewed look at emails sent to and from the server. Earnest said he would neither condone nor criticize Comey's call, but he did call the FBI boss, an Obama appointee, an individual of high character and professionalism.
At a campaign rally in Columbus, Ohio on Tuesday, Obama did not mention the email controversy nor Trump's characterizations about what it says about his Democratic opponent. But in an interview with NowThisNews taped Tuesday and released Wednesday, Obama suggested voters should consider "concrete decisions" rather than "innuendo."
"I do think that there is a norm that when there are investigations we don't operate on innuendo and we don't operate on incomplete information and we don't operate on leaks," said Obama, who has endorsed and will continue campaigning for Clinton until Election Day.
"We operate based on concrete decisions that are made," he said. "When this was investigated thoroughly last time the conclusion of the FBI, the conclusion of the Justice Department, the conclusion of repeated congressional investigations, was she had made some mistakes but that there wasn't anything there that was prosecutable."
Clinton has said "there is no case here" concerning the private server, the use of which she now calls a misstep. Trump this week said he is "sure" the contents of the emails the FBI is now reviewing will be "absolutely devastating" to Clinton.
The former first lady and top diplomat appears to lead Trump both nationally and in enough battleground states to secure the presidency on Tuesday _ but recent polls show her lead both nationally in some of those key states shrinking.
