President Barack Obama appeared to be critical of FBI over disclosure about the bureau’s investigation into the private e-mail server used by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
“When you are investigating a case, then, unless you have unearthed something, you need to just do your job. If there are things that you think are worth presenting, then you present them to a prosecutor,” Obama told MSNBC in an interview.
Obama, however, gave a clean chit to the FBI Director Jim Comey.
“Jim Comey is a good man. I do not believe he was trying to influence election one way or the other. I think, he is a serious public servant. He wants to do right thing. I think, the overwhelming majority of FBI feel the sake. The overwhelming majority of people in the Justice Department feel the same way,” he said.
Last week, Comey sent a vague letter to Congress notifying lawmakers that the bureau had unearthed e-mails that appear “pertinent” to its investigation into Clinton’s server.
The news has shaken her campaign, with rival Donald Trump saying its evidence of serious wrongdoing.
“What, I have said that all of us think about maintaining these norms. If there are things that you think are worth presenting, then you present them to a prosecutor. The prosecutor then makes a judgment. The prosecutor can make a decision either to file a charge or not to file a charge,” he said.
“But we give enormous power to our law enforcement officials to keep us safe, to do a great job, to protect us.
But we also put these norms and rules in place, some of them written, some of them unwritten, to make sure that any of us are not suddenly affected by innuendo or rumours. That’s true for an ordinary citizen and is true for somebody who is running for president of the US,” Obama said.
He also alleged that Trump lacks “basic standard” of decency and reiterated that he is unfit to be president of the country.
“If you think that I’ve done a good job, if you believe that Michelle has done a good job, everything that we’ve done over the last eight years will be reversed with a Trump presidency. And everything will be sustained and built on with a Hillary Clinton presidency,” Obama warned in the interview.
Obama had yesterday addressed two rallies in North Carolina, a key battle ground State.
“I think a lot of people still can’t believe that Donald Trump would be elected president. There may be a complacency setting in,” he said.