Obama on FBI's Email Letter: 'We Don't Operate on Leaks'

For someone who says he's not going to criticize FBI director James Comey's handling of the most recent email brouhaha, President Obama appeared to do exactly that on Wednesday, despite not mentioning Comey by name. "We don't operate on incomplete information," the New York Times quotes Obama as saying. "We don't operate on leaks. We operate based on concrete decision that are made." Eleven days before the election, Comey sent a letter to Congress saying the FBI was looking into some emails that may possibly have something to do with Hillary Clinton's private email server. But the FBI likely won't know for sure until after the election. And since that letter, it's been revealed the emails weren't sent by Clinton or found on a device belonging to her.

Obama argues that any actions that could change how the public understands the Clinton email case need to be based on facts, CNN reports. He also notes that Comey's letter to Congress goes against Justice Department guidelines. According to Slate, it seems improbable that anything in this new batch of emails will change the FBI and Justice Department's opinion that Clinton didn't do anything for which she could be prosecuted. It's a sentiment shared by Obama, who points out that Clinton was already investigated for a year and that nothing had come of it, Politico reports. Obama says that when Clinton makes "an honest mistake" it "ends up getting blown up as if it's some crazy thing." (More Barack Obama stories.)