Donald Trump has attempted to capitalise on Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server.Reuters
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called Democratic
rival Hillary Clinton a threat to the country on Monday, saying that if
she is elected a probe into her emails could shadow her entire term in
office, as the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Clinton's lead narrowing
slightly.
"The investigation will last for years. The trial will probably
start," Trump told a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan. "Nothing will get
done. I can tell you, your jobs will continue to leave Michigan.
Nothing's going to get done."
The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Friday said it was
investigating newly discovered emails that might relate to Clinton's use
of a private email server when she was secretary of state.
Clinton on Monday again said she was confident that the FBI would not
find anything problematic in her emails and would reach the same
conclusion they did earlier this year.
"It wasn't even a close call," she said at a rally in Cincinnati, Ohio, of the FBI investigation
Trump is hoping to convince voters that electing Clinton would prompt
"a constitutional crisis that we cannot afford" as her emails would be
subject to years of controversy, in the wake of the FBI's announcement
on Friday that it continues to investigate material possibly related to
her emails.
Clinton on Monday continued to level attacks against Trump's ability to control nuclear weapons.
"I am running against someone who says he doesn't understand why we
can't use nuclear weapons," she said in Cincinnati. "He wants more
countries to have nuclear weapons.
"I wonder if he even knows that a single nuclear warhead can kill millions of people," she added.
Little is publicly known yet about the emails being investigated,
other than that they were found during an unrelated probe into the
estranged husband of a top Clinton aide.
FBI Director James Comey told members of Congress on Friday the
agency was probing more emails that might relate to Clinton's use of a
private email server, but added, "We don't know the significance of this
newly discovered collection of emails."
Trump, who has repeatedly referred to Clinton as "crooked Hillary",
on Monday said the email probe shows what a poor role model she is –
seemingly trying to turn the tables on Clinton, who has assailed his
character over disclosures of vulgar comments he made about groping
women.
"I want to tell you, she is a terrible
example for my son and the children of this country," he said in Warren,
Michigan, mentioning his youngest son, Barron. "Hillary is the one who
broke the law over and over and over again."
Clinton holds narrow lead
Until the Friday revelation, Clinton had been coasting with a comfortable lead over Trump.
Opinion polls now shows Clinton's lead over Trump has narrowed
slightly since early last week. It is not yet known if the email
controversy will hurt her support. Millions of Americans have already
cast their ballot in early voting.
Clinton holds a five-point lead over Trump in the latest
Reuters/Ipsos poll, receiving 44 per cent of likely voters compared to
Trump at 39 per cent.
Despite the controversy about her email, Clinton continues to hold a
large advantage in the Electoral College, the process that selects a
president by awarding votes through individual state elections. Clinton
holds leads in several key swing states, including Pennsylvania and New
Hampshire, where Trump must erode a large lead to be victorious.
"Explosive"
The FBI spent a year investigating Clinton's use of a private email
server, instead of government systems, while she was secretary of state
from 2009 to 2013. Comey concluded in July that while Clinton and her
staff had been "extremely careless" in handling classified information
there were no grounds for any charges.
Comey, roundly criticised by Republicans for his decision not to
recommend charges against Clinton at the end of the FBI probe in July,
has now drawn the ire of senior Democrats. US Senator Harry Reid, the
Democratic leader in the Senate, accused him of "a disturbing double
standard for the treatment of sensitive information, with what appears
to be a clear intent to aid one political party over another".
He said, without providing evidence, that the FBI was keeping
"explosive information" under wraps about ties between the Trump
campaign and Russian officials.
Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook called reports that the FBI would
not discuss whether the Russian government was behind the hacking of
Democratic email accounts because it was too close to the election "a
blatant double standard".
In an August letter, Reid asked Comey to investigate whether Trump
allies have worked with the Kremlin to influence the election, citing
reports that a foreign-policy adviser had met with Putin allies on a
July trip to Moscow and longtime Republican operative Roger Stone had
been in touch with WikiLeaks.
The White House steered clear on Monday of direct criticism of Comey,
who was appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama in 2013. Obama
views the FBI head as a man of integrity and does not believe he is
secretly trying to influence the outcome of the election, White House
spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.
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