“The American people have had enough and they’ve especially had enough of the fast and loose ethics of Bill and Hillary Clinton,” Pence said. | AP Photo Pence uses Comey letter to re-litigate email scandal

HICKORY, N.C. — Mike Pence responded to FBI Director James Comey’s declaration that its decision not to indict Hillary Clinton remained unchanged after reviewing newly found materials by continuing his own assault on Clinton’s ethics.

“The American people have had enough and they’ve especially had enough of the fast and loose ethics of Bill and Hillary Clinton,” Pence declared, and was met by loud chants of “lock her up!” from the crowd of a few hundred.


“The FBI last summer concluded that Hillary Clinton having classified documents on that private server was ‘extremely careless,’” Pence said. “And I guess today, I don’t know if you heard, today they announced that they had not changed that conclusion.”

The crowd booed. The conclusion the FBI reaffirmed in a letter to Congress on Sunday was its decision not to prosecute Clinton.

“You know, mishandling classified information is a crime,” Pence said.

“And Hillary Clinton, just let’s remember what we know, Hillary Clinton said that she never sent or received classified information and the director of the FBI told the Congress classified information was sent. Hillary Clinton said there was nothing marked classified on her emails, sent or received, and the FBI director told the Congress that’s not true.”

Pence continued to tick through details of the scandal that has shrouded Clinton’s campaign, and flared up again after Comey announced the discovery of an additional device that contained emails from Clinton. Pence learned about Comey’s Sunday announcement shortly after a Florida rally and read the letter, an aide said.

“Mishandling classified information is a crime,” Pence repeated. “If only for their decades of self-dealing, the politics of personal enrichment, mishandling classified information and compromising our national security, we must ensure that Hillary Clinton is never elected president of the United States of America.”

Pence was rallying plane-side at the Hickory Regional Airport here as the sun dipped behind the North Carolina hills, coloring the sky with streaks of pink. North Carolina Sens. Thom Tillis and Richard Burr introduced Pence at the event. Burr is locked in his own tight race for re-election.

The stop marked Pence’s last in North Carolina, which has become a must-win for Trump and remains in a dead heat in the polls.

The rally was Pence’s second of the day, following an early afternoon event in Panama City, Florida. He planned to finish out the day with a rally in Windham, New Hampshire, before a planned five-rally day on Monday.