Barack Obama has said the FBI should not "operate on innuendo" in his first comments about the agency's renewed investigation into Hillary Clinton's handling of classified information.

Mr Obama offered an enthusiastic defence of Mrs Clinton's character, saying she made an "honest mistake" in using a private email server as secretary of state.

The president declined to explicitly criticise James Comey, the FBI director, for announcing that more "pertinent" emails were being reviewed just eleven days before the election.

But he did make broad statements about how the agency should be run that seemed to suggest he believes the situation has been mishandled.