Obama rebukes FBI: ‘We don’t operate on innuendo’

BARACK AND A HARD PLACE: President Barack Obama injected himself into the FBI’s investigation of HILLARY CLINTON today, questioning the appropriateness of FBI Director James Comey’s letter to Congress and saying that the FBI should not shouldn't "operate on innuendo."

In an interview NowThis released Wednesday morning, Obama didn’t name Comey. But he expressed frustration that the the FBI director issued his letter 11 days before an election.


“I do think that there is a norm that, you know, when there are investigations, we don’t operate on innuendo,” Obama said. “We don’t operate on incomplete information. We don’t operate on leaks. We operate based on concrete decisions that are made.”

Obama added that he “made a very deliberate effort to make sure that I don’t look like I’m meddling in what are supposed to be independent processes for making these assessments.”

BLAST NOTE: Piling on, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi today called Comey’s letter a “mistake.”

It’s Wednesday. We’re six days away. But your 2016 Blast is already here. Henry C. Jackson (@henrycjjackson) is here to guide you through today’s campaign news, so please send your tips, rumors, suggestions and favored countdown metrics to: [email protected].

It’s been a blast, but all good things must come to an end. After the election, our coverage will continue in 2017 Transition.

2) HEADS UP: A top official at the Justice Department gave John Podesta a “heads up” about new developments related to Clinton's email use as secretary of state, according to hacked emails published Wednesday by WikiLeaks, POLITICO’s Matthew Nussbaum reports. “In May 2016, Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik emailed Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta to tell him about potential developments at an impending congressional hearing, as well as about a new development in a Freedom of Information Act request for Clinton's State Department emails. In an email from Kadzik's personal account titled 'Heads up,' he wrote: 'There is a [House Judiciary Committee] oversight hearing today where the head of our Civil Division will testify. Likely to get questions on State Department emails. Another filing in the FOIA case went in last night or will go in this am that indicates it will be awhile (2016) before the State Department posts the emails.'”

3) A DEGREE FROM THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE: There was an array of state polling in crucial or potentially crucial states today across the nation’s battlegrounds, most of it indicating a tightening race. In Wisconsin, HILLARY CLINTON maintained an advantage over DONALD TRUMP in a state the GOP nominee has tried to push back into play in a new Marquette Law School poll. Clinton tops Trump in Florida, by a single point, in a new Quinnipiac University poll. Quinnipiac also has Clinton up in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, with Trump ahead in Ohio. A new Monmouth University poll also had Clinton up in Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, an array of CNN/ORC polls showed Clinton up in Pennsylvania and Florida, but trailing Trump in Arizona and Nevada.

4) SUNNY SIDE TRUMP: Tightening polls, the specter of the FBI hanging over HILLARY CLINTON’s campaign, the sense of the ending — DONALD TRUMP is feeling good, POLITICO’s Shane Goldmacher reports from Trump’s rally in Miami. “In the days since the FBI’s surprise announcement that it is examining new emails related to Hillary Clinton and her private server, Trump’s bounce back in the polls has put an extra spring in his step. … After excising polls from his stump speech amid his October slump, they’re very much back and, instead of complaining about them being rigged, Trump was cautioning against over-confidence. In this final week, Trump has released new ads and is trying to make last-minute electoral incursions into traditionally blue states, including Wisconsin, where he campaigned on Tuesday, New Mexico and Michigan."

Trump may have some pep in his step, but he is still reveling in the role of underdog, POLITICO’s Steve Shepard, Louis Nelson and Nolan D. McCaskill report. Trump today implored supporters to act as if they are behind “despite a national poll that shows him neck and neck with Hillary Clinton and others that put him ahead in key battleground states. Trump, whose turbulent relationship with the polls has swayed from obsession to downright dismissal, told a Miami crowd ‘the polls all say we’re gonna win Florida’ but cautioned his supporters not to believe them.”

5) NOW IT’S A PARTY: The Republican National Committee has switched course and is now paying for ads backing DONALD TRUMP during the final week of the presidential campaign, POLITICO’s Kenneth P. Vogel reports. “With polls tightening in the final week of the presidential race, the party committee is funding at least $3 million in TV ads on behalf of the Trump campaign. Some of the RNC-funded ads attack Trump’s Democratic rival Hillary Clinton over the FBI’s announcement last week that it was examining new evidence related to her team’s handling of classified information while she was secretary of state. The RNC-funded ads are part of a $17.7-million Trump advertising surge in the campaign’s final week, according to an analysis of advertising buys done for POLITICO by The Tracking Firm.”

TRAIL MIX: In today’s campaign news, white supremacists make plans. Many veterans are drawn to DONALD TRUMP. A Clinton niece says she’s voting for Trump, MIKE PENCE hits Mesa, Congress is ready to investigate and Hollywood plans its election parties.

SUPREMACIST PUSH: White nationalists have been invigorated during DONALD TRUMP’s campaign are planning a show of force on Election Day.

VETERANS PULL: Many vets who feel abandoned by government are backing DONALD TRUMP. (The New York Times)

INTERESTING TUR-N OF EVENTS: DONALD TRUMP called out NBC’s Katy Tur by name and the crowd at his rally responded by mocking her and chanting at her. (Business Insider)

SMIT’S SMITE: Roger Clinton's daughter Macy Smit, who's HILLARY CLINTON’s niece, says she’s voting for DONALD TRUMP.

MESA MOMENT: MIKE PENCE got a crowd to chant “drain the swamp” during a rally in Mesa, Ariz.

LONG TIME COMING: A 102 year old woman, born before women could vote, cast her ballot for HILLARY CLINTON. (USA Today)

FIRED UP, READY TO GO: Republican in Congress will investigate with great ardor from virtually the moment she wins, if she wins.

PARTY PLANNING: The Hollywood Reporter looks at how entertainment bigwigs will spend Election Night.

THEY SAID IT: “Pretend we’re slightly behind. You gotta get out. We don’t wanna blow this.” — DONALD TRUMP to supporters on the election.

MAGIC NUMBER: 0.50. That’s the Federal Reserve’s borrowing rate, whose policy-making body decided not to raise its main borrowing rate ahead today.

FOLLOW @POLITICO’S politics team: @PoliticoCharlie, @POLITICO_Steve, @PoliticoAlex, @anniekarni, @GlennThrush, @EliStokols, @katieglueck, @schreckreports, @gdebenedetti, @Hadas_Gold, @ec_schneider, @kyledcheney , @theodoricmeyer, @MarcACaputo, @PoliticoKevin,@mikeallen, @dlippman, @Danielstrauss4, @henrycjjackson, @shanegoldmacher, @KristinPolitico, @PoliticoScott, @Patrick_C_Reis, @dsamuelsohn

There you go — now you’re caught up on the 2016 race. TBNR. We’ll see you Thursday.