Washington: Democrat Hillary Clinton headed into the polling day of a tight White House race against Republican Donald Trump with new momentum after the FBI said no charges were forthcoming in an investigation of her email practices.
Both Ms Clinton and Mr Trump spent Monday racing across battleground states that could swing Tuesday’s election, which polls show is close but tilting toward Ms Clinton.
FBI director James Comey again sent shockwaves through the race by telling Congress on Monday that investigators had worked around the clock to complete a review of newly discovered emails and found no reason to change their July finding that Ms Clinton was not guilty of criminal wrongdoing in her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. It was uncertain whether the announcement came in time to change voters’ minds or undo any damage from days of Republican attacks on Ms Clinton being as corrupt.
Tens of millions of Americans had cast early votes in the 10 days since Mr Comey first told Congress of the emails. “Nothing’s going to change between today and tomorrow to help [Ms Clinton] win back ‘undecided voters’,” Mr Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said. Mr Trump, who has not said whether he will respect the results, questioned the thoroughness of the FBI review and said the issue would not go away. Ms Clinton did not mention the FBI finding during her last two campaign events on Sunday.
“That’s behind us now,” her campaign manager Robby Mook told CNN on Monday. Republicans kept up their criticism of Ms Clinton. “She simply believes she’s above the law and always plays by her own rules,” House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said, arguing that Ms Clinton’s use of a private email server "compromised our national security.” Ms Clinton held a 4-point lead in the ABC/ Washington Post poll and a CBS news poll released on Monday.
