The White House tried to downplay remarks President Obama made that appeared to criticize FBI Director James Comey’s decision to reopen the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server.
Obama, in an interview with NowThisNews published Wednesday, said people shouldn’t be making their voting choice in the presidential election based on “innuendo,” “incomplete information” and “leaks.”
He was responding to a question about what he thought of Comey’s decision to notify Congress of new emails he was reviewing that may relate to the Clinton email investigation.
Deputy White House press secretary Eric Schultz told reporters that Obama’s remarks on the renewed FBI investigation did not reflect any change in the White House position that it would neither defend nor criticize Comey.
“Nothing changed,” Schultz told reporters Wednesday.
Schultz reiterated Obama’s full remarks in the NowThisNews interview, adding, “You will see the president went out of his way to say he wasn’t going to comment on any specific investigation.”
“We do take seriously the longstanding norms and customs” that have historically limited what law enforcement can say about a pending investigation. Those norms are designed to limit “speculation — and yes, innuendo,” he said.
“These customs shouldn’t apply only if someone is famous, or if there’s an election around the corner,” he said.
Asked specifically what the president meant when he said we don’t “operate on innuendo,” he said Obama was referring to the “idea that in the course [of] a law enforcement investigation, if facts and materials are released before it comes to conclusion, that could lead to public speculation and innuendo” that it generally doesn’t serve anyone’s interests for the White House to comment.
