The Latest: Trump Blasts FBI Over Clinton Decision

The Latest: Trump Blasts FBI Over Clinton Decision
LEESBURG, VA - NOVEMBER 06: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump holds a campaign rally at the Loudoun County Fairgrounds November 6, 2016 in Leesburg, Virginia. ( Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The Associated Press
11/7/2016
Updated:
11/7/2016

WASHINGTON—The Latest on the U.S. presidential campaign (all times EDT):

11:55 a.m.

Donald Trump is criticizing the FBI’s decision not to criminally charge Hillary Clinton. He says “now it’s up to the American people to deliver justice at the ballot box.”

Trump kicked off his Election Day eve blitz with a rally Monday in Florida. He told the Sarasota crowd that “the system is rigged, but at least we know it.”

He claimed that “our country is a laughing stock all over the world.”

The Republican nominee than pantomimed quotation marks when he said the word “justice” as he hit the FBI and the Department of Justice for their handling of the case.

FBI Director James Comey notified Congress Sunday that a review of new emails connected to Clinton’s servers did produce evidence that would warrant charges.

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11:45 a.m.

An ex-aide to former President Bill Clinton alleged in a hacked email that Chelsea Clinton used the family’s charitable foundation to help underwrite her 2010 wedding.

The 2012 exchange between Doug Band and Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta was released by the WikiLeaks organization. Stolen messages have chronicled tensions within the Clinton Foundation between Band and the daughter of the Democratic presidential nominee.

Band told Podesta that Chelsea Clinton was gossiping to outsiders that she was investigating questionable spending. Band suggested that she is the one who should be scrutinized for “using foundation resources for her wedding.” He did not provide details about this. A Clinton Foundation spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Band was later forced out amid issues with his outside consulting firm.

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11:40 a.m.

Donald Trump is kicking off his last, breakneck day of campaigning before polls open with a rally in Sarasota, Florida.

Trump is telling thousands of supporters packed into a local fairgrounds arena Monday that the election is now in their hands.

He told them: “Get out there. I mean, I did my thing. I worked.”

Trump is planning to continue a frenzied campaign pace, with rallies in five states Monday, including North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Michigan.

Trump is also continuing to paint rival Hillary Clinton as a corrupt and alluding to the scrutiny of her use of a private email sever as secretary of state.

Trump is also having some fun. At one point, he held up a mask in his likeness and complimented its hair.

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11:30 a.m.

The White House says it will “neither defend nor criticize” FBI Director James Comey’s decision to send a new letter to Congress about Hillary Clinton’s emails.

That’s the same phrasing the White House used when Comey initially announced that the FBI was looking into more emails related to its investigation of Clinton. In a follow-up letter Sunday, Comey said the FBI review was completed and it was standing by its recommendation that no charges be filed.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Monday told reporters aboard Air Force One that the White House hasn’t been briefed on the investigation and didn’t receive advance notice about Comey’s latest letter.

Earnest says Obama still has confidence in Comey.

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10:50 a.m.

Philadelphia’s public transit system will be up and running in time for Election Day now that a weeklong strike has ended. That’s a relief to the state’s Democrats.

Democratic city officials were worried that the strike could affect turnout at the polls Tuesday. Pennsylvania does not offer early voting, so Election Day turnout is key.

The state has favored Democrats in recent presidential elections, but polls suggest the race is tightening. Democrat Hillary Clinton is counting on strong support in the Philadelphia area. Both candidates are campaigning in the state Tuesday.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and the union representing roughly 4,700 transit workers announced a tentative agreement early Monday. Subways were soon operating on a reduced schedule and limited trolley service was restored.

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10:30 a.m.

The Justice Department says it will send more than 500 staffers to 28 states on Election Day to monitor the polls. That’s a 35 percent reduction from the number four years ago.

Department officials say personnel will be sent to 67 jurisdictions to watch for potential civil rights violations. Monday’s announcement comes amid rising concerns about voter intimidation, particularly aimed at minorities.

The number of personnel is less than the roughly 780 monitors and observers who were dispatched in 2012.

The Justice Department has said its poll-watching presence has been curtailed by a 2013 Supreme Court opinion that gutted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act.

In a statement, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the department is committed to ensuring that every eligible voter can participate in the election.

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10:25 a.m.

Hillary Clinton is departing on a multi-stop swing of the presidential battleground states on the day before the election. She’s telling reporters that “we’re just going to work until the last vote is counted.”

Clinton said Monday that while she thinks she has “some work to do to bring the country together,” she wants to be the president for those who vote for her and those who don’t. She was speaking to reporters at an airport outside New York City.

Clinton said she has “a big agenda ahead of us” and is vowing to “get a lot done” if she defeats Republican Donald Trump.

The Democratic presidential nominee was campaigning in Pittsburgh; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Philadelphia and Raleigh, North Carolina.

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8:55 a.m.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he doesn’t know if the George Washington Bridge lane closure controversy cost him the vice presidential nomination.

Christie said Monday on “CBS This Morning” that he was runner-up to be Republican Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick. He denied a report that Trump had offered him the job, then rescinded it. He said he thinks Trump thought Indiana Gov. Mike Pence was the better choice.

Two of Christie’s former allies were convicted Friday for their role in re-aligning access lanes to the bridge in a political revenge plot against a Democratic mayor who didn’t endorse him.

Christie says he thinks Trump will defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton Tuesday because the momentum is on his side and the country wants change.

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8:35 a.m.

Ohio Democrats want the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in their voter intimidation lawsuit in the swing state.

The party has filed an emergency request for the nation’s high court to lift a Cincinnati-based federal appeals court order. That ruling Sunday granted the Donald Trump campaign’s request to block a federal judge’s restraining order Democrats said was needed to prevent voter intimidation.

A 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals three-judge panel said Ohio Democrats didn’t show “a likelihood of success” on their case’s merits.

The party told the U.S. Supreme Court the appellate judges ruled without reviewing “critical evidence” a lower court judge relied on in ruling that anyone engaging in intimidation or harassment inside or near polling places would face contempt of court charges.

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7:35 a.m.

Donald Trump’s campaign manager says it’s not true that his staff has stopped him from tweeting.

Trump has exhibited unusual restraint on social media in the final days of the campaign. The New York Times reported on Sunday that aides “have finally wrested away” his Twitter account.

President Barack Obama seized on the report at a voter rally in Florida, telling the crowd that anyone who can’t be trusted with a Twitter account shouldn’t be trusted with control of the America’s nuclear weapons.

When asked Monday about the Times report by NBC’s “Today Show,” campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said: “No, it’s not true.”

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3:15 a.m.

With the cloud of an FBI investigation lifted, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump struck strikingly different tones as they moved into the final hours of a volatile, nearly two-yearlong presidential campaign.

After days of attacks on Trump’s qualifications and temperament, Clinton cast herself as the candidate of “healing and reconciliation,” perhaps a surprising position for one of the most divisive figures in American politics. Trump, meanwhile, voiced new confidence as he brought his campaign — and his dark visions of a rigged American economic and political system— to longtime Democratic strongholds.

Overshadowing the flurry of last-minute campaigning was FBI Director James Comey’s latest letter to Congress, informing lawmakers the bureau had found no evidence in its hurried review of newly discovered emails to warrant criminal charges against Clinton.