Trump campaign manager says it’s ‘superb’ that the FBI is reviewing more Clinton emails

In an interview with Yahoo News’ Bianna Golodryga on Friday, Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, welcomed the FBI’s announcement that it is looking into additional emails “that appear to be pertinent to the investigation” of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server during her time as secretary of state.

The statement by FBI Director James Comey, which came in the form of a letter to the congressional committees that also have been looking into Clinton’s emails, became public moments before Conway appeared on Yahoo News’ live broadcast.

“That is superb,” said Conway. “That’s extraordinary news for the American people because they deserve to know everything. They deserve to have a transparent and accountable federal government, which includes that secretary of state when she was there who now wants to be president of the United States and commander in chief.”

Conway added there was “a lot of pressure” on the FBI to reopen the investigation because retired four-star Gen. James Cartwright pleaded guilty to leaking classified information to journalists earlier this month. Cartwright’s plea agreement provides for a prison term of no more than six months.

“He is facing jail time, [and] this woman lied repeatedly and America knows,” Conway said.

Trump also cheered the news at a rally in Manchester, N.H., where he praised the FBI and the Department of Justice for having “the courage to right the horrible mistake they made” when they declined to bring charges against Clinton.

The FBI opened its probe into Clinton’s email practices last year after inspectors general with the State Department concluded that emails on the server contained classified information and referred the matter to security officials in the executive branch. In July of this year, Comey announced that the bureau “did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information” and that “no reasonable prosecutor” would pursue charges based on the findings of the investigation. At the same time, the director said classified information was included in some of the emails and criticized Clinton and her team for being “careless.”

Comey’s Friday letter to members of Congress notified them that the bureau was taking “appropriate investigative steps” after learning “of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation [in] connection with an unrelated case.”

“The FBI cannot yet assess whether this material may be significant,” Comey wrote.

In a statement sent to reporters after Comey’s letter became public, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta emphasized that the FBI initially said no prosecutor would pursue charges based on evidence found in the investigation. Podesta accused Trump and his team of “baselessly second-guessing the FBI and, in both public and private” and “browbeating the career officials there to revisit their conclusion in a desperate attempt to harm Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.” Podesta also called on Comey to provide the public with “more information” about the new emails referenced in the letter.

“Director Comey’s letter refers to emails that have come to light in an unrelated case, but we have no idea what those emails are and the Director himself notes they may not even be significant. It is extraordinary that we would see something like this just 11 days out from a presidential election,” Podesta said, adding, “The Director owes it to the American people to immediately provide the full details of what he is now examining. We are confident this will not produce any conclusions different from the one the FBI reached in July.”

According to the New York Times, the new emails were discovered by the FBI during its investigation into former New York Rep. Anthony Weiner’s alleged sexting with a minor. Weiner is married to Clinton’s longtime aide Huma Abedin. In July, Abedin announced her decision to separate from Weiner after reports he engaged in sexual communications with an adult woman online. In September, Weiner was accused of having explicit conversations and video chats with an underage girl.

Polls currently show Clinton with a wide lead over Trump. In response to a Yahoo News question about the numbers, Conway insisted repeatedly that the race is “tightening.” She also denied reports that the Trump campaign’s internal polling is in line with public data that shows him losing.

“The internal polling shows us either ahead within the margin of error or within striking distance of Hillary Clinton in seven of the eight swing states that Mitt Romney lost to Barack Obama,” Conway said.

This post was updated with Podesta’s statement at 4:00 p.m. E.T.