With just over a week remaining in the 2016 presidential election, stories appear to be breaking on an almost daily basis which have changed the direction of the race. For Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, the latest game-changer wasn't a welcome one.
FBI breakdown
Early Friday afternoon, FBI Director James Comey sent a vague letter to Congress and informed them that they would be reviewing newly obtained emails that could be in relation to their previous investigation of Clinton's private email server. Comey's letter was so void of detail that the media originally ran with the report that the FBI was re-opening their previous investigation into Clinton's emails.
While that wasn't the case, Republicans and Donald Trump pounced on the opportunity to use Comey's letter as a political weapon. This issue was highlighted on the October 29 edition of "AM Joy" on MSNBC.
Joining host Joy Reid were a panel of guests, including Trump surrogate Steve Cortes. Like most of the Trump campaign, Cortes made his case that the latest FBI email review could find that the national security of the United States was at risk. Cortes made sure to note that the information in question was found of Huma Abedin's computer, Clinton's aide, which she shared with her husband Anthony Weiner. "We don't know a crime was committed, though I suspect," Cortes said, claiming that the majority of the American people feel the same way.
Clinton calls on FBI to release info on newly discovered emails, saying, "We don't know the facts." https://t.co/TSErquHoU2
— NPR (@NPR) October 29, 2016
"As an American, I am very troubled that our Secretary of State jeopardized our national security as often, and as badly, as she did," Cortes said. Reid quickly chimed in, stating, "There is nothing that we just discussed that has anything to do with jeopardizing the national security Steve, you know better than that." "I respect you too much to let you go on a rant that is full of un-factual information sir," Reid continued.
In an attempt to clarify the situation, Reid told Cortes, "What we're really talking about is an aide to a politician printing things out for her boss and unfortunately being married to a creep."
Russian ties
Reid then discussed with panel guest Joe Conason the links the Trump campaign has with Russia, that possibly put the nation's national security at risk.
Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, has been accused of having financial ties to Russia, though Cortes tried to pushback on the allegation, which led to Reid responding. "That is an investigation that everybody believes the FBI is looking into," Reid said. When Cortes noted that Manafort was no longer with the campaign, Reid reminded him, "He was running your campaign."
