Hillary Clinton says the Justice Department’s new filing is “totally different” than the Comey investigation

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told CNN’s Michael Smerconish on Saturday morning that the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) new lawsuit against former President Donald Trump is “completely different” than former FBI Director James Comey’s investigation into her emails from 2016, when she was in office under the Obama administration.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over Trump’s federal election interference case, partially unsealed the lengthy file filed by U.S. Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith in an attempt to convince Chutkan that the former president’s alleged crimes in the Following the 2020 election are of a private nature and not official acts and can therefore remain in his indictment.

Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, faces four felony charges in Smith’s case against him in Washington, D.C., after he allegedly tried to overturn President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory following his loss, which occurred on January 6th Riots at the US Capitol culminated in 2021. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges, claiming the case was politically motivated.

Smith’s filing came nearly a month before the November presidential election, in which the former president will face Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.

In October 2016, 11 days before the Trump-Clinton presidential election, Comey, then director of the FBI, sent a letter to Congress announcing the reopening of an investigation into Clinton’s emails while she was secretary to President Barack Obama was condition.

Clinton lost to Trump in 2016 and said she believed Comey’s announcement so close to the election killed her chances of winning. Comey announced in July 2016 that he would not recommend criminal charges related to Clinton’s use of a personal email system to conduct business as secretary of state, but reopened the case months later. Comey announced two days after this year’s election that the investigation had again closed and that there was no evidence that could change the decision not to indict Clinton.

Comey was hired as FBI director under Obama and fired by Trump in May 2017, which the administration blamed on Comey’s handling of the Clinton email investigation.

Appears on CNN Smerconian On Saturday morning, Clinton was asked: “I wonder if you see a problem with the DOJ filing this detailed 165-page memo laying out its entire case against Donald Trump just a month before this election.”

“I think the situation is completely different,” Clinton told Smerconish, comparing it to Comey’s announcement of the email investigation in October 2016. “This is in the context of an ongoing criminal case that the special counsel has many, many against Donald Trump “Months before the election.”

She continued: “Frankly, it was motivated in many ways by the orders of the judge in this trial, who, it seems to me, has been extremely sympathetic to Trump in his rulings over the course of the month…Nothing comes of that.” So far I understand that there is no violation of the laws and regulations of the Department of Justice when a further statement of charges is filed in an ongoing case.

Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director, said Newsweek via email late Saturday morning: “Corrupt Hillary still can’t get over being a sore loser of 2016 and has now allowed Trump Confusion Syndrome to completely dominate her life, to the point where she appears on low-rated cable news shows and Kamala begs for a job. It’s sad.

Newsweek I emailed Clinton’s team late Saturday morning seeking comment.

Meanwhile, Trump called Smith’s immunity request “false” in a post on his social media page Truth Social on Wednesday and appeared to claim that the release coincided with Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate between his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance. and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota.

“The publication of this falsehood-ridden, unconstitutional J6 letter immediately after Tim Walz’s disastrous debate performance and 33 days before the most important election in our country’s history is another blatant attempt by the Harris-Biden regime to undermine and weaponize.” “American democracy and interference in the 2024 presidential election,” Trump wrote.

Trump’s DC trial won’t begin until after the November election as the pretrial is still ongoing. On Thursday, Chutkan gave Trump until Nov. 7, two days after the election, to file his response to Smith’s new request.

The reason Smith filed his 165-page brief in the first place stems from a July 1 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that former presidents enjoy immunity for official actions while in office, but not for unofficial actions. The case was brought to the Supreme Court after Trump pushed for the case to be dismissed. Smith, meanwhile, updated Trump’s original indictment and a grand jury reindicted the former president last month.

The superseding indictment removes some specific allegations against Trump, but the former president still faces the same four counts as in the original August 2023 indictment: conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; Obstructing and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights.