Liberal New York Times columnist and economist Paul Krugman blamed FBI Director James Comey on Friday for revealing more information about Hillary Clinton’s email controversy just 11 days before Election Day.
If we don’t hear more from Comey, we just have to conclude that he was trying to swing election. And *that* should be the story.
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) October 28, 2016
On Twitter, Krugman said Friday it was “grotesque” for Comey to send a letter earlier in the day to Congress informing lawmakers that new emails related to Clinton’s tenure at the State Department have surfaced.
“It’s bad enough having the media do the ‘raises questions,’ substance-free innuendo thing,” said Krugman, referring to reports on Clinton’s emails that he said have cast suspicion on the Democratic nominee but found no proof of illegal conduct. “Worse when the FBI director does it. Disgraceful.”
In another tweet, Krugman said, “Comey needs to provide full info immediately. Otherwise he has clearly made a partisan intervention, betraying his office.”
Krugman also suggested Comey was trying to tip the scales in favor of Republican Donald Trump.
“If we don’t hear more from Comey, we just have to conclude that he was trying to swing election,” Krugman said. “And that should be the story.”
Earlier in the day, Comey sent a letter to Congress informing them that new emails have surfaced related to Clinton and that he has authorized the FBI to investigate them.
“I am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed me on this yesterday, and I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation.”
The email scandal has dogged Clinton’s campaign for more than a year, and has been a continuous problem for her as she tries to woo voters. Polls have shown that Clinton has a trust problem with voters, and the email problem is a major reason why.
Clinton said for months that she never sent or received classified emails from her server, but the FBI said dozens of classified emails were sent on her system.
In July, Comey publicly said that Clinton was “extremely careless” with government information but he said he would not recommend that the Justice Department prosecute the candidate.
