The White House said President Obama would be proud to support Hillary Clinton from now until Election Day, even in the face of the FBI’s decision to re-open the FBI investigation into her private email server.
“I don’t think anything has surfaced to change the president’s views of Secretary Clinton,” deputy White House press secretary Eric Schultz told reporters Friday.
“In fact, I have good news for you, in about an hour and a half, he’ll be on the ground in Orlando. The president will be able to share his views of Secretary Clinton, why he believes she’s uniquely qualified to be the next president of the United States,” he said.
“He’s going to be proud to support her from now until Election Day,” Schultz added.
Despite his unwavering support for Clinton, Schultz said Obama doesn’t plan to address the headlines dominating the news Friday afternoon about the FBI decision to continue investigating the email server after reportedly finding relevant new emails on a “device” they recovered from Anthony Weiner, the husband of top Clinton aide Human Abedin.
“I would not expect anything on this in the president’s remarks today,” Schultz said. “You can expect a lot of the themes he’s hit before, touting why he believes Secy. Clinton is uniquely qualified to be commander in chief.”
“The president’s proud to count himself among the converts” after experiencing a tough 2008 presidential primary against her.
Schultz was unable to clarify whether Friday’s FBI decision was an actual investigation or if FBI is still trying to decide whether to re-open the case. He also said Obama and the rest of the White House team received no prior notice about Comey’s decision, and learned about it through press reports.
“The only notification we’ve received is the letter that was made public by press reports from Director Comey to Capitol Hill,” he said. “We had that letter after it was made public, so we did not have advance warning.”
The FBI also did not send it over to the White House.
“We got it through press reports,” Schultz said.
