Hillary Clinton is the “risky choice” for president in this election, and Friday’s decision by the FBI only reaffirms that to voters, said Trump’s running mate Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
That’s the message that Donald Trump’s campaign is funneling to voters after Friday’s decision by the FBI to reopen its investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server to handle confidential information as Secretary of State.
“Franky, I think they [voters] have come to the conclusion that Hillary Clinton is a risky choice to be the next president of the United States, and Friday’s announcement just reaffirms that,” Pence told the program’s host Chuck Todd on Sunday.
FBI Director James Comey announced Friday that the bureau had reopened its investigation. FBI agents said they discovered thousands of new emails in a separate investigation involving Anthony Weiner, the husband of Clinton’s top adviser Huma Abedin.
Donald Trump has been using the announcement to make Clinton appear to be guilty of criminal activity, which Pence said millions of Americans believe to be the case.
Todd questioned whether it was fair to characterize Clinton as guilty of criminal charges when Comey did not disclose what the new emails contain.
Trump has said Clinton “set up this server to cover up criminal conduct,” said Todd. “What criminal conduct is he talking about?”
Pence defended Trump’s statements by saying the assertions that she is guilty come from statements Comey made in the summer that showed what Clinton was saying to be about her knowledge of classified emails turned out to be “not true.” But then Comey chose not to proceed with charges, he explained. “It was just incomprehensible to millions of Americans,” Pence said.
“You believe she committed a crime?” said Todd. “Do you know for sure? He [Trump] is saying it for sure,” Todd said, adding that “what he says people take as fact. Should he be saying that factually?”
Pence shot back at Todd by recalling a number of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen who mishandled classified information, who in recent months have been found guilty and sentenced to jail time.
“The mishandling of classified information is a very serious matter,” Pence said. “The FBI director concluded that Hillary Clinton, while she was secretary of state, in charge of all the foreign policy of the United States, and while she was taking major contributions from foreign governments, had a private server in which she dealt with classified information.”
