By Aaron Blake, October 31

In a letter to FBI Director James B. Comey on Sunday night, outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) says Comey may have broken the law.

And that's not even the most brazen claim in the letter — not by a long shot.

In the course of arguing that Comey's disclosure that the FBI is looking into new Hillary Clinton investigation emails may have violated the Hatch Act, Reid slips in an extremely bold claim about the Trump campaign and the Russian government.

In my communications with you and other top officials in the national security community, it has become clear that you possess explosive information about close ties and coordination between Donald Trump, his top advisors, and the Russian government — a foreign interest openly hostile to the United States, which Trump praises at every opportunity. The public has a right to know this information. I wrote to you months ago calling for this information to be released to the public. There is no danger to American interests from releasing it. And yet, you continue to resist calls to inform the public of this critical information.

Even for a man known for bare-knuckle politics, this is remarkable.

Reid is saying that he has been told the FBI has evidence of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. And he's not just saying this information came from mysterious and unnamed national security officials; he's saying Comey himself has left him with this impression.

To be clear, Democrats including Reid have argued for months and months that the Russian government wants Trump elected president, citing hacks into Democrats that intelligence officials say probably originated in Russia. Trump himself has stoked the fire by saying nice things about Russian President Vladimir Putin, and his former campaign manager's ties to Russian interests are well chewed-over.

But there is no public evidence to support Reid's claim of actual "coordination" between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. And were that to be the case, it would be a scandal of epic proportions.

Asked what evidence exists of such a connection, Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson cited classified briefings.

"There have been classified briefings on this topic," Jentleson said. "That is all I can say."

Asked whether the letter means Comey has shared such information directly with Reid, Jentleson said, "Refer you to the language in the letter."

This is the political equivalent of Reid lighting a match, dropping it on a dry ground and walking away.

Anybody who has studied Reid's political career, of course, won't be terribly surprised. We don't have to look too far in the rear-view mirror to find another example of Reid offering an evidence-free claim about a Republican presidential candidate.
SNIP
As with the Romney allegation, Reid's suggestion that Comey himself has told him about this alleged coordination between the Russian government in the Trump campaign is now sitting there for Comey to either respond to or not. He's daring Comey to disclose something, and if Comey doesn't (in keeping with protocol), Reid can argue that speaks for itself and there's a double standard.

Reid clearly has very few reservations about making these kinds of allegations, and now that he's retiring from the Senate, he's apparently even more liberated.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-...ump-and-russia/

Also on this topic...
Dems accuse FBI Director of trying to swing the election: Reid says Comey broke the law with bombshell Hillary email revelation - and claims the Feds are sitting on 'explosive' information about Trump
By KALHAN ROSENBLATT, 31 October 2016

+Harry Reid sent a letter to FBI director James Comey, accusing him of 'sitting on explosive information' that would connect Trump to Russia
+Reid also accused Comey of violating the Hatch Act, which forbids Justice Department employees from acts that could result in influencing election
+Other Democrats slammed Comey over decision to release information
+One hundred former federal prosecutors signed letter criticizing Comey
+On Sunday night, the FBI obtained a warrant needed to read private emails from Clinton top aide Huma Abedin on husband Anthony Weiner's server
+They have found 650,000 in total; thousands could be related to Clinton
+Means Clinton could still be subject of an FBI probe if elected president
+While Clinton continued on the campaign trail, Abedin was left in New York

Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, have accused FBI Director James Comey of sitting on 'explosive' information about Donald Trump's alleged connection to Russia.
They're now demanding that information be released after Comey told Congress about emails connected to Hillary Clinton found during an investigation into Anthony Weiner's sexting scandal.
Reid also accused Comey of violating the Hatch Act, which prohibits government officials from using their position to influence elections.
'I am writing to inform you that my office has determined that these actions may violate the Hatch Act, which bars FBI officials from using their official authority to influence an election.
'Through your partisan actions, you may have broken the law,' the letter begins.
After accusing Comey of possibly committing a crime, he goes on to accuse him of knowing about a tie between Trump and Russia.

In my communication with you and other top officials in the national security community, it has become clear that you possess explosive information about close ties and coordination between Donald Trump, his top advisers, and the Russian government - a foreign interest openly hostile to the United States, which Trump praises at every opportunity.
'The public has a right to know this information. I wrote to you months ago calling for this information to be released to the public. There is no danger to American interests from releasing it.

And yet, you continue to resist calls to inform the public of this critical information,' Reid wrote in a scathing letter to Comey.
Top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform committee, representative Elijah Cummings, told the Daily Beast: 'The FBI now potentially faces a very serious credibility problem.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...l#ixzz4Oguq18Gd
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