Scott Powers
Hillary Clinton blasted FBI Director’s James Comey’s letter to Congress about the newly-discovered email regarding her, calling his action “strange” and “deeply troubling” in a speech at a Daytona Beach community center Friday afternoon.
Early-on in her speech Friday Clinton addressed the latest controversy surrounding her email, but offered no concerns about what they might say about her, but rather what they might do to the presidential election, 10 days out. And she addressed it with a touch of sarcasm, as if she believes it demonstrates a political plot by Comey.
“You may have heard about a letter that the FBI director,” Clinton said. “If you’re a girl like me you probably have a few questions about it. It is pretty strange. It’s pretty strange put something like that out with such little information right before an election. In fact, it’s not just strange, it’s unprecedented. It’s deeply troubling.”
Clinton said she urged Comey to “explain everything right away. Put it all out on the table.”
She moved on quickly through a short, 18-minute speech that was light on policy yet pushing hard to energize the base. She strongly urging the largely African-American crowd of about 900 in a tiny gymnasium at Dickerson Community Center to get people to vote, “and vote right.”
She also spent much time seeking to draw a character contrast between herself and Republican nominee Donald Trump. She said he has a “dark and divisive vision of America,” and accused him of attacking women, African-Americans, veterans, people with disabilities, gay people, “and everybody.”
“He is doing his best to confuse, mislead and discourage the American people. I think it’s time for Donald Trump to stop fear-mongering and stop disgracing. And stop attacking our Democracy. We can’t let him get away with this,” Clinton said.
“We can’t let this election in less than 10 days be about the noise and distractions,” she added. “It’s got to be about what kind of country we want for ourselves, our children and our grandchildren, and who can take us there as your next president.”
Her only nod to her own policy proposals came as she sought to draw a portrait of herself as someone seeking a unified America, when she quickly moved through a few of her priorities.
“It is not just that my name will be on the ballot. Everything we care about will be at stake,” she said. “Your future. Making college affordable. Getting the cost of prescription drugs down. Protecting and defending Social Security and Medicare. Fighting climate change is at stake. LGBT equality is at stake. Equal pay for women. In fact, we know the American dream itself is at stake.”
