With the Presidential Election a mere 11 days away and Hillary Clinton's recent surge in the polls following her strong debate performances, the leaking of audio from the Republican nominee, Donald Trump's "Access Hollywood" interview from 2006, and his self-inflicted wounds following the leak, it's hard to see how anything could trip her up just 11 days out from the General Election. As Clinton's campaign went high in the polls, Trump certainly got lower and lower, to say the least. Many polls had Clinton leading by up to 7 points over a week ago nationally, and she has been in a great position in many key battleground states which could turn the tide of the election come November 8th. But then came Clinton's “October Surprise."
Earlier today, James Comey the Director of the FBI wrote a letter to several government officials speaking of “the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation” of the private email server Clinton used while working at the State Department. The new emails surfaced as a result of an FBI probe into the sexting scandals of Anthony Weiner, former husband of top Clinton aide and ally, Huma Abedin. When investigating a device used by Weiner, emails that may have been classified may have shown up reigniting the investigation.
Chairman of the Clinton campaign, John Podesta, responded on Friday to the allegations against the Democratic nominee saying, “Director Comey’s letter refers to emails that have come to light in an unrelated case, but we have no idea what those emails are and the director himself notes they may not even be significant." Trying to capitalize on the major blow to Clinton’s campaign, Trump's campaign and ranking GOP members Paul Ryan and Reince Priebus released statements reiterating the rhetoric that she is “extremely careless” in handling classified information.
The real question now is how will this impact Clinton's chances on November 8th? Right now the former Secretary of State averages a 3 point lead nationally over Trump as his campaign scrambles to pull independents and minorities into his supporting base, while also trying to unite his own party. With the elections tightening numbers I wouldn’t rule out a Trump win yet, especially after this revelation came out. Although, Clinton is and will be a favorite going into Election Day because of the sheer size and strength of her campaign.
Comey's letter on Friday simply added to shocking and improbable events that have occurred throughout this crazy and historic election. I am fearful that these emails are more damning than the others found before because of the unprecedentedness for the FBI to reopen an investigation into major party’s candidate just 11 days before an election. The October Surprise has finally come, and it may go down as the event that sank Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Now it's every American’s duty and right to sit on the couch, eat popcorn, and watch this horror film continue (and of course, vote on November 8th!).
