The Note: The Email Election
— -- NOTABLES
--FBI OBTAINS WARRANT NEEDED TO START REVIEWING EMAILS FOUND ON LAPTOP USED BY CLINTON AIDE: Federal investigators looking into the Hillary Clinton email matter have obtained the warrant needed to start reviewing the emails found on a laptop used by Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her husband, Anthony Weiner, ABC’s MIKE LEVINE reports. FBI Director James Comey told Congress Friday that the agency was again reviewing emails related to Clinton's personal server, after it learned of additional information that might be relevant to the case. http://abcn.ws/2ep3BUw
--CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS GET BRIEFINGS ON EMAIL REVIEW: Comey has reached out to top Republicans and Democrats in Congress to brief them on the agency's review of newly-discovered emails in connection to the investigation of Hillary Clinton's private email server, congressional sources tell ABC News. Comey spoke over the weekend about with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, a Republican of Virginia, and the panel's ranking Democrat, John Conyers of Michigan. Others leaders in Congress, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and the House Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, Adam Schiff, of California, have requested briefings, according to ABC’s BEN SIEGEL. http://abcn.ws/2eo9ktD
--FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL AND OTHER FORMER DOJ OFFICIALS PEN LETTER CRITICIZING COMEY. Former federal prosecutors and high-ranking Department of Justice officials, including former Attorney General Eric Holder, penned an open letter criticizing Comey's handling of the latest development in the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, ABC’s PIERRE THOMAS and GENEVA SANDS note. "Many of us have worked with Director Comey; all of us respect him. But his unprecedented decision to publicly comment on evidence in what may be an ongoing inquiry just eleven days before a presidential election leaves us both astonished and perplexed," the letter said. http://abcn.ws/2dTPPg9
--ANALYSIS -- ABC’s RICK KLEIN: Who thinks the system is “rigged” now? The Clinton campaign responded to the unusual letter from FBI Director James Comey by unloading on the messenger with an argument that carries troubling implications. The Clinton campaign is suggesting that political motivations were behind Comey’s move. Clinton Tweeted (in an unsigned message posted from her account) that Comey “bowed to partisan pressure and released a vague and inappropriate letter to Congress.” Eric Holder and nearly 100 former Justice Department officials wrote a letter calling Comey out from their perspective. Then there’s Harry Reid, unleashing the sort of campaign tactic he brought in 2012 when he said (falsely) on the Senate floor that Mitt Romney didn’t pay any taxes. The Senate minority leader wrote a letter to Comey saying he may have violated federal law with a “clear intent to aid one political party over another.” Reid also did his best Roger Stone in writing that Comey is withholding “explosive information about close ties and coordination between Donald Trump, his top advisors and the Russian government.” The Clinton camp may have had no choice this late than to go to war with Comey. But what shouldn’t be lost is this means the campaign of the Democratic nominee for president – the candidate who wasn’t complaining about a rigged election– is now asking voters to question whether the director of the FBI is trying to influence the election’s outcome.
BY THE NUMBERS -- DEEP UNFAVORABILITY FOR CLINTON, TRUMP MARKS THE ELECTION’S SHARP DIVISIONS. Likely voters see Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump equally unfavorably, with a nearly complete partisan split in views of the two -- testament both to the unprecedented unpopularity of the candidates and the level of division between their opposing camps. These divisions, and the partisan predispositions that inform them, help explain the close contest, unchanged in the latest ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll at 46-45 percent, Clinton-Trump, with 4 percent for Gary Johnson and 2 percent for Jill Stein. Beneath these results is a possible slip in enthusiasm for Clinton: Using just the last two nights' results -- after FBI Director James Comey revealed a further Clinton-related email investigation -- 47 percent of her supporters say they're very enthusiastic about her, compared with 51 percent across the previous six nights. ABC’s GARY LANGER has more. http://abcn.ws/2ee6BFu
LAST WEEKEND ON THE TRAIL with ABC’s VERONICA STRACQUALURSI
CLINTON SLAMS FBI’S MANNER OF ANNOUNCING EMAIL REVIEW AS ‘UNPRECEDENTED’ AND ‘DEEPLY TROUBLING.’ Hillary Clinton at a rally in Florida on Saturday afternoon slammed the manner of the FBI director's announcement of a review of new emails as 'unprecedented’ and ‘deeply troubling.’ "It's pretty strange to put something like that out with such little information right before an election," Clinton said, referring to Friday's announcement coming 11 days before Election Day. The Democratic former secretary of state also brought up her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, who is attacking Clinton over the FBI review. "He is doing his best to confuse, mislead and discourage the American people," Clinton said of Trump, ABC’s LIZ KREUTZ reports. http://abcn.ws/2eZ4XXe
TRUMP SAYS CLINTON HAS NOBODY TO BLAME BUT HERSELF: Donald Trump said Saturday Hillary Clinton has "nobody to blame but herself" for the ongoing issue of how she handled emails when she was secretary of state, calling her actions "willful," ABC’s CANDACE SMITH notes. At a rally in Golden, Colorado, Trump seemed to gloat following the revelation that the FBI is again reviewing emails related to Clinton's personal server, after possibly pertinent communications were found on devices used by a top Clinton aide, Huma Abedin. "It's everybody's deepest hope that justice at last can be properly delivered. Hillary has nobody to blame but herself for her mounting legal troubles. Her criminal action was willful, deliberate, intentional and purposeful," he said. http://abcn.ws/2dYTTXH
KAINE CALLS FBI DIRECTOR’S ACTIONS ON EMAIL REVIEW ‘EXTREMELY PUZZLING’: Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine called the FBI director's announcement 11 days before the election of a review of new emails in the Hillary Clinton email investigation "extremely puzzling" and a "distraction." In an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, Kaine said FBI Director James Comey's announcement of the review was a breach of Justice Department protocol, ABC’s JESSICA HOPPER reports. "It is just extremely puzzling,” Kaine said on "This Week." “Why would you release information that is so incomplete when you haven’t even seen the material yourself? Eleven days before an election, why would you talk about an ongoing investigation? I just have no way of understanding these actions. They’re completely unprecedented. And that’s why I think [Comey] owes the American public more information.” http://abcn.ws/2ftccJV
TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER SAYS FBI REVIEW PLAYS INTO VOTERS’ ‘RELUCTANCE’ ABOUT CLINTON: Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway says the FBI's review of newly-found messages in connection to its investigation of Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server could make a difference on Election Day. "I think for the voters at this stage, this plays right into their reluctance about Hillary Clinton," Kellyanne Conway said on "This Week." "Hillary Clinton could put all this to rest today by asking Huma Abedin to tell us all what is in those emails," Conway said. ABC’s NICKI ROSSOLL has more. http://abcn.ws/2eWIImW
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
MELANIA TRUMP TO DELIVER HER FIRST CAMPAIGN SPEECH. Melania Trump, the wife of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will deliver her first speech of the 2016 cycle Thursday in Pennsylvania, after not being seen on the campaign trail for the last few months, the campaign announced today, ABC’s JOHN SANTUCCI writes. Last week, Melania Trump told ABC News’ Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos in a joint interview with her husband that her absence from the campaign trail is because "my priority is my son, Barron, our son, Barron." http://abcn.ws/2fketaX
WHO’S TWEETING?
@TomBevanRCP: Bill Clinton in Charlotte: ‘I was naive. I thought we’d have a fact-based election’. http://bit.ly/2eM8dHa
@washingtonpost: Trump boasts about his philanthropy. But his giving falls short of his words http://wapo.st/2fukSzH
@BuzzFeedBen: Weekend scoop from @dino_grandoni: If Clinton wins, we may have @ErnestMoniz to kick around for a while longer http://bzfd.it/2f4sfLq
@costareports: Per sources, Bannon/Conway/Trump now see MI, WI and NM as possible insurance policies/upsets in blue states... but polls show steep climb.
@brikeilarcnn: When the hardest part of 2016 has nothing to do with the campaign trail - my #GirlsOnTheBus story http://cnn.it/2eLTmMU