james comey ends the investigation into a new batch of e-mails found on the computer of a top aide. the chief strategist for the republican national committee is stand big to react live. the next hour of "the sasituati room" starts right now. good evening. i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. it's 7:00 p.m. in the nation's capital. we're following the breaking news in the race for the white house. less than 48 hours before the election. the fbi director james comey has completed his latest review into hillary clinton's e-mails and in a letter to congress, comey says he has not changed his bottom line conclusion from july, that there was no evidence of criminal activity in those documents on the part of hillary clinton. certainly, a sigh of relief for the clinton campaign. but clinton herself didn't respond to the news today at her rally in cleveland.

her running mate, tim kaine, tells cnn this is the outcome that the campaign expected. >> there's still a lot of questions about it, about how it happened and why it happened and alter dynamic for a few days. we did have the confidence, when we were surprised with it two fridays ago, it'd be back in this place. they spent so much time looking at it and reached a conclusion that was so unequivocal. we're glad to get the news but not surprised. meanwhile, we're waiting to see how donald trump will react to the news. he's getting ready to speak at a rally in sterling heights, michigan, this hour. we'll have live coverage. his running mate, mike pence, told a crowd in north carolina a in his view, is still guilty.n,- >> mishandling classified information is a crime. and hillary clinton, let's remember what we know.

hillary clinton said that she never sent or received classified information, and the director of the fbi told the congress, classified information was sent. >> the night is nowhere near over for the presidential candidates. next hour, hillary clinton is scheduled with kaine to appear in manchester, new hampshire, while trump will travel to moon township in pennsylvania. the fbi director, james comey, is caught in the cross fire yet again. if irs first in july when he said no prosecutor would recommend charges against hillary clinton. once again when he sent the letter on october 28th about a new e-mail discovery. and now today with the latest letter to republican and democratic members of congress. first, let's go to our justice correspondent, pamela brown. let's talk about the letter, the conclusion and the timing of director comey's conclusion. >> it is extraordinary, wolf. fbi investigators worked around

the clock to review the large volume of e-mails. according to sources we've been talking with, it wrapped up sooner than expected, even by people in the f piano. sour -- fbi. people said without the technology used, it would have taken longer. also, most of the e-mails found to and from clinton were duplicates. in other words, e-mails already reviewed in the prior investigation. and many of the e-mails were also personal. that is also why it was exped e expedited. the probe is considered over for now, though with not all the deleted e-mails recovered and not all the devices in the fbi's possession, it is always possible something else could turn up that would require more review. there was some classified e-mails found, according to sources, my colleague evan perez talked to, the officials stressed though the issue is intent. it is not the classified information. you have to prove intent. clearly, there was nothing proving intent and that's why the director stuck with his

decision in july to not recommend charges against clinton. >> pamela, thanks very much. pamela brown reporting. let's talk about the political fallout from today's letter from the fbi director james comey. joining us now is sean spicer, the chief strategist and political director for the republican national committee. thank you for joining us. >> you bet, wolf. >> do you accept the findings released today by the director james comey? >> i mean, i guess, sure, but i guess i'm baffled now as i was in july. which is, in his july findings, he innumerated what would be gross negligence back then. since then, we've learned that the information was on anthony weiner's laptop that he was sexting with young, underage women. we've found out that hillary clinton's aide was tasked to print off classified information, something she didn't have the clearance for. i'm equally baffled today as i

was in july when director comey laid out the case of hillary clinton's actions and came to a conclusion that didn't meet the standard of gross negligence that he laid out. >> do you have confidence that the fbi director is doing the right thing, that he should stay on the work? >> i don't -- it's not up to the communications director for the rnc to decide whether or not the fbi director should stay or not. but i do think as we enter the final 48 hours of the election, it is important for people to understand that really nothing has changed. the fbi said in july that hillary clinton was reckless, she'd met the standard for gross negligence, and i think what we've seen since then continues the narrative. if you are a voter going out right now and think that the first four years of a clinton presidency would be anything different than the last 30 years, especially the last six months, i think you have another thing coming to you. so i don't know that this really changes anything. we clearly know hillary clinton

did not abide by the rules that were set forth at the time. we continue to learn more and more about that. i think that there is a lot of voters that have had their choice impacted by the admission of how she handled classified information. >> the fbi director in july said that hillary clinton was extremely careless, reckless, if you will, in dealing with the classified information on her private e-mail server. but bottom line conclusion was that no reasonable prosecutor would recommend criminal charges against her. yes, she was careless. but no criminal charges. he reiterated that today. the conclusion that he reached in july still holds today after reviewing the hundreds of thousands of e-mails found on anthony weiner's computer. that's with only two days to go. was it appropriate in the middle of a presidential election, within 60 days of an election, for the fbi direct or even to b making these statements? the tradition is justice department officials, fbi

officials, don't comment on politically sensitive matters so close to a presidential election. >> first, i'm not sure i completely agree with that. 1992, the clintons benefitted when wineberger was indicted days before the election. subsequently did not move forward and was found innocent, if you will. when it benefitted the clintons, they didn't have a problem then in 1992, when it benefitted subsequently president clinton. at the end of the day, all of this stems from hillary clinton's actions, wolf. this wasn't made out of whole cloth. it was her decision to have a private server. it was her decision to lie about the e-mails. it was her decision to self-select the e-mails. it was her decision to talk about the lack of classified information. it was her decision to bleach it. it was her decision to hammer the devices, literally with a hammer. all of this stems from her actions, which the director said were reckless and met the standard of gross negligence. so if new evidence comes forward, i don't care if it is

five hours before an election, all of this stems from her and her negotiates mishandling and not being honest with the facts of what they had done. >> yeah, but still, he didn't recommend criminal charges in july. today after reviewing these new e-mails, he's still not recommending criminal charges. >> but i also think -- >> the fbi -- go ahead. >> i believe it is not accurate. we have seen case after case of individuals who have mishandled, misused classified information that have been prosecuted and punished. for the fbi director to come to that conclusion, i just don't understand it. i really don't on that. >> his argument has been that in the other cases, there was intent. the individuals were charged and convicted and knew they were mishandling classified information. in this case, he said there was no intent on the part of hillary clinton. that's the difference that he makes. >> right. but there are two parts to that. there is intent and gross

negligence. gross negligence is someone who should have had a reasonable expectation s of knowing what they were doing is wrong. as a secretary of state, you would know when you set up a classified server, and -- >> he did address the issue of gross negligence. there are ways to convict someone. he says no prosecutor would go forward on the gross negligent point. >> that's not -- >> james comey said in sworn testimony to congress. >> i understand that. unfortunately, it is unprecedent for the fbi director to make the decision. their job is to present the information to the department of justice. he made the decision on behalf of the department of justice. obviously, they have the right to move forward. they're moving forward with an investigation into the clinton foundation. they continue to investigate. the fact of the matter is, he did take an unprecedented step in making that decision which frankly wasn't his to make. >> well, he made the

recommendation and loretta lynch, the attorney general, deputy attorney general, they accepted the recommendation from the fbi director. that's the way he explained it. >> i understand that. you are aware, but i think it is odd that this came on the heels of the attorney general meeting for 25 minutes on a tarmac with former president bill clinton, right before the decision was made. we can understand how people are a little bit weary of how these decisions got made. >> sean spicer, the communications director, chief strategist for the republican national committee. thanks very much for joining us. >> thanks, wolf. joining us now for a different perspective, democratic congressman of california, major hillary clinton supporter. the ranking democrat on the house intelligence committee. congressman, you received the letter today from the fbi director james comey. did the letter do enough to reassure you? what was your reaction when you got the letter?

>> my reaction was that this is not very surprising at all. i think the director made it clear in july when he said no reasonable prosecutor would move forward, that there was no evidence of intent, as you were pointing out. i think many of us believe fully that they wouldn't find any evidence of intent in the e-mails. if anything, they'd probably find duplicates. so not a surprising finding. surprising only that this was found two days before the election. i think it underscores the original mistake, the serious error in judgment of releasing the first letter over a week ago. because had the fbi taken the time to go through these e-mails and not made that public a week ago, right before the election, there wouldn't be the necessity of this follow up step. so you had a number of people voting in this interim period. without that information and

with that inyou end that innuen there. >> he promised in the sworn testimony after releasing the original conclusion in july that if there was new development, new information, he'd inform congress. from his perspective, congressman, he was living up to that promise he made to congress when at the end of october, october 28th, he released the letter. what was wrong with that? >> well, first of all, wolf, the footage i had seen, the director said if there was new evidence that came to light, he'd review the evidence. i don't remember seeing him go go be beyond that in his testimony. >> there was an exchange -- there was an exchange he had with republican members saying, i will take that into consideration. when they said will you come back and let us know? he indicated he would. >> if he did indicate that he would, it was a mistake. when he started sending investigative files to congress, i said that was a mistake. i said what you're calling transparency will come to be known by a different name, and that is mistake. you don't release this kind of

information before an election. you don't, in fact, talk about pending or closed cases. while i understood the exceptional circumstances surrounding the july statement, i think to go beyond that injected the bureau into this presidential campaign in a way that was very destructive. not just to a candidate in the unfair treatment of the candidate, but destruct i have to the bureau, by making the bureau an issue. i think this episode will be reviewed by directors in the future, by the department of justice, as sort of an abject lesson in what goes wrong when you violate the doj policies. in my view, wolf, the letter should have never gone out. in fact, the prior information, files sent to congress, should not have been provided either. that was angainst doj policy, a well. that led us to this extraordinary 48-hour in advance of the election announcement. nevertheless, as i mentioned,

not surprising. i would hope it would lead the trump campaign to pull down those distorting ads they've been airing, suggesting all kinds of things based on nothing more than innuendo and their wishes. but do i have faith they'll do so? not in terms of the content they've run during this campaign. >> what do you say to what we heard from sean spicer, that hillary clinton has herself to blame, that she created this private e-mail server, there was classified information on the server. it was clearly mishandled. the fbi director said she was grossly negligent, if you will. she didn't handle that e-mail -- even though he recommended against criminal charges, that she herself is to blame. sean spicer says she was engaged in gross negligence. >> look, the secretary has admitted a long time ago that it was a mistake for her to set up out of convenience a separate e-mail account that she used for work and private. she wasn't the first secretary

of state to do that. colin powell did it, as well. nonetheless, it was a mistake. but it was not secretary clinton's mistake to inject this into the campaign in the last two weeks. that was the fbi's mistake. the fbi decided, as long ago as july, there was no prosecutor to bring charges here. having been a prosecutor for six years, that conclusion made a lot of sense. you don't go forward where there is not intent to do wrong. there's never been evidence of that. the case should have been closed at that point. if new information came to light, that could be reviewed. it's not something that you share publicly when you don't know what you have. as we later learned at the time of the director's announcement last week, he hadn't reviewed the e-mails. had they taken the time to do that, we wouldn't have had this final chapter that has embroiled the fbi in the campaign. >> quickly, should comey resign? >> look, all i'm prepared to say is i think this was a very bad

judgment by the director. at this point, i'm going to leave it at that. i hope we will learn from this. i hope the bureau will learn from this. it not only was, i think, a mistake to inject this into the race, but we've had the mistake, unfortunately, compounded, wolf, by endless leaks before and more significantly after the letter was published. that really needs to be looked into, too. that statement from mr. giuliani, that he had advance notice of this, the pride in which he took of that in talking to other bureau agents, apparently. that, i think, is among the most appalling, that you might have people at the bureau sharing inside information with one of the campaigns in a way that really brings discredit upon the bureau. >> all right. we'll leave it on that note. giuliani told me he didn't have advance notice on friday. we'll continue this conversation. congressman, thank you for joining us. >> thank you, wolf.

reaction fallout pouring in from the latest development, this letter to congress from the fbi director, james comey. senator feinstein released a statement, saying in part, and i'm quoting, that comey unfairly hurt the campaign of one candidate and changed the te kno -- tenor of this election. let's bring in our panel. our chief political analyst gloria borger. senior politics reporter, nia malik henderson, and dana bash. the damage to hillary clinton and her campaign over the past nine days, is the damage already done? >> in many ways, yes. there is no question. if there was no such thing as early voting, maybe the damage would be negated a little bit. you're the early voting expert here, but millions of people have gone and voted. they did so with this

information front and center in the campaign. you know, leading the dynamic of the 2016 presidential race. the biggest thing that hurt hillary clinton was just putting this question of the fbi, the question of investigations front and center. that being the focus and not what it was before, which were, you know, donald trump's "access hollywood" tape, the allegations of grope skpg ing, so on and sr. the fact it has shifted to hillary clinton's big, big problem, the fact that she has been here in washington for so long and allowed the drain the swamp and everything else to become front and center, that was very problematic. now, you know, can she recover in the next two days? maybe. it certainly was a big, big mistake for her. it helped donald trump a lot.

>> the polls were tightening. gloria, here's what the speaker, paul ryan, is saying about the letter released today by director comey. regardless of the decision, the undisputed finding of the fbi's investigation was secretary clinton put our nation's secret at risk and compromised our national security. fortunately, the american people have the opportunity to ensure secretary clinton never gets her hands on classified information again. very strong statement from the speaker of the house. >> that is because, a, this is a good issue for them and, b, the fbi director last july called hillary clinton reckless. he decided not to prosecute. he decided not to proceed any further. he made an editorial statement. i think that was the original sin. i think that's where all of this comes from. the original sin, of course, i should say, was hillary clinton using a private e-mail server. >> yeah. >> let's go back to that. but the republicans have found

an issue that motivates their base. that independent voters look at. it goes to the honest and trustworthy issue. i'm not surprised that they're not giving up on it. it's not going to change donald trump's stump speech one bit. hillary clinton, i was told today by a senior adviser, is not going to be talking about the fact that she was exonerated in any way, shape or form because she doesn't want to be talking about e-mails in the last couple of days of the campaign. >> donald trump, we're waiting for him to speak soon, we're told. we'll have live coverage of that. the republican vice presidential candidate, mike pence, in north carolina, responded to this latest development. he said this. >> i guess today, i don't know if you heard, today they announced they had not changed that conclusion. >> you know, mishandling classified information is a

crime. hillary clinton, let's remember what we know. hillary clinton said she'd never sent or received any classified information. the director of the fbi told the congress, classified information was sent. hillary clinton said there was nothing marked classified on her e-mails, sent or received. the fbi director told the congress, that's not true. >> what's your reaction? >> there's a little bit of lucy and the football quality to this investigation. over and over again, republicans have exaggerated the political impact of this investigation and exaggerated how much they think political jeopardy hillary clinton is under. how likely was it that more of huma abedin's e-mails were going to be any different than the ones -- than the thousands the fbi already looked into? instead of sort of playing it cool, pence and trump basically

said hillary was about to go to jail because of comey reopening this investigation. i mean, it was entirely predictable. it was likely there wasn't going to be a whole lot on this hard drive. >> you know that donald trump, david, is going to say the whole system is rigged. >> he's been saying that. he'll keep saying that. as gloria said, he'll say it regardless of events as they develop. republicans are going to continue to make this case that comey let clinton off the hook in july. democrats will make the case that the two letters in the last nine days were out of bounds for him. big picture, donald trump wants to continue to drive this narrative that the media, that the government, that everything is rigged against him and his supporters. he presented no specific evidence of this. i don't think any of the events with the fbi, you know, supports him. now that there's been the second letter, i think clinton can get

back to her main message. >> donald trump. take you to the podium. let's hear from what he has to say. >> once again, no politician will do that. they don't have a clue. i've been fighting for the car industry for years. i was honored five years ago. man of the year in michigan. that was a great honor for me. during my speech, all i talked about is what mexico and these other countries are doing to us. especially what they're doing to michigan. that's all i talked about. i was criticized. they said, donald, speak about something else. i said, no. what's happening is horrible. what's happening is terrible. one of the main reasons i ran for president is to stop it. these politicians will never do it. they'll never do anything about it. i want to share -- they'll never do it, folks. we'll bring the jobs back and no

more are going to be leaving. there are going to be consequences if they leave. i want to share a special message with my many friends in the union all across the state. the unions love me. and the non-unions love me, too, i will tell you. as well as to democratic voters here and across the country. the economic polities of bill and hillary clinton have bled michigan dry. almost more than any other place. they rake in hundreds of millions of dollars from special interests who specialize in shipping your jobs to other countries. the clintons gave us nafta. think of it. the worst trade deal ever signed by any country ever. china's entry into the world -- >> we'll continue to monitor donald trump. he's in a stump speech right now. if he speaks about the james comey letter, we'll go back

there live. stand by. mark, you think he's going to address this issue publicly? i'm sure it is a disappointment to him and his campaign that the fbi director has now concluded the same conclusion he had in july, no recommended criminal charges against hillary clinton. >> i suspect the information is like acid right now. it's eating him up inside. he really wants to do it. the question is, if he does, how will he do it? will he do it in a way that goes back and harkens to the time of him going off the reels and trying to rally up the crowd, or in a way that says, look, this is another example of what i've been saying. it is a rigged system, to try to get voters to come to him. look, it is 50/50 on what happens with that. >> what do you think? >> yeah, i mean, so far, if what we've seen of donald trump is any guide, i think he's probably going to talk about it continuously in hhyperbole. he compared to ed it to waterga.

what we heard at the convention, the idea that hillary clinton should be in jail. lock her up. i imagine that it will be still in that same vein, making these broad arguments. essentially saying the last 30 years of clinton and clinton being surrounded by controversied and scandals, if you like that, you'll like a clinton in the white house. >> this episode over the 11 days did something that was very impossible for his aides to do up until then. which is, bring something into focus so that he could latch on to it and stick to it. it worked. i mean, for -- look, there have been times over the past several days where he has gone way off script. but for the most part, he hasn't. he's been as disciplined and focused as he has this entire year and a half. as one aide told me, i was

reporting on why he was disciplined, one of his associates said it was like a thunderbolt from god when the fbi letter came two fridays afwoe. it -- ago. it allowed him to focus. isn't something you continue come up to as an aide with a candidate who has trouble with discipline. >> you can't turn around -- he can't criticize the fbi after applauding the fbi. >> i think he can. god giveth and god taketh away. >> let his surrogates do it. >> have you met donald trump? >> there is a lot more coming up. 40 million americans have already voted over these past few days. another 70 or 80 million expected to vote by tuesday. much more on the breaking news right after this. "distraction" by joywave

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breaking news tonight, the fbi clearing hillary clinton again in the probe into her private e-mail server that she used as secretary of state. the fbi director, james comey, telling congress newly discovered e-mails, whose revelation rocked the u.s. presidential election nine days ago have been found irrelevant and kept his earlier finding, that clinton shouldn't be charged. the election is less than two days away. both candidates have hourallies coming up. trump will hold his final rally of the night a bit later. joe johns is in manchester, new hampshire, where clinton will be speaking soon. brian, the marathon day continues. the rally there in virginia will be donald trump's fifth campaign stop today alone. what are you seeing? what is the latest? >> wolf, a lot of energy here in

louden county, virginia. you're right, this was a late add in the campaign schedule today. five campaign stops added by the trump campaign late in the weekend. this is the last, as you mentioned. a lot of energy in the crowd. though it is a late add and trump is still on his way, the rally scheduled to tart in a couple hours, these people have been lining up since early this afternoon. thousands of them. they are going through security here. we're going to show you, as the crowd winds around, it goes all the way back around the buildings here. we'll take you down here, where you can get a sense of the scope of the crowd. you may not be able to see it because of the darkness on the ridge there, but there are hundreds and thousands, really, of people winding down this road here. at least several hundred yards. they've been here all day today. the trump campaign is really counting on this enthusiasm. they think louden county could tip the balance in virginia. narrowly went to president obama in 2012. it is on the western edge of northern virginia. they think louden county can tip the balance for them this year,

wolf. that's why he added this campaign stop late in the day today. again, the trump campaign, hillary clinton a few points ahead in the polls. trump campaign thinks this county might tip the balance and create a comeback in a state where the race is tightening. >> joe, hillary clinton, at least for now, decided not to address directly, personally, the latest fbi letter, clearing her. she's leaving it to her vice presidential running mate and her aides. what are you hearing? >> that's absolutely right. she didn't talk about it in hoho and plan to not talk about it here in ohio. every time she talks about the e-mail issue, it turns out to be the sound bite on the news. they also said they wanted to keep it positive in the closing days and don't want to engage in a back and forth with the fbi director over this issue of the e-mails. just the same, this campaign has

a lot to do here in new hampshire. this is one of the states hillary clinton lost in the primaries to bernie sanders. it's also one of the states that does not have early voting. polls show it is tight here between hillary clinton and donald trump. they have quite a bit to do. at the same time, the campaign saying officially they're very happy that this issue is resolved. they expected it to be that way, but talking privately with some campaign aides, there is a sense of frustration because they believe they lost ground during the last week. they don't know they can make that back up, wolf. >> brian todd and joe johns reporting for us. joe and brian, thank you. a new report from inside the trump campaign is revealing what the candidate is like behind the scenes. during the final days of his campaign, the "new york times" reporting, and i'm quoting now, trump is not sleeping much these days.

aboard his gold plated jumbo jet, the republican nominee does not like to rest or be alone with his thoughts. insisting that aides stay up and keep talking to him. he prefers the soothing, whispery voice of his son-in-law. the article goes on to describe a highly anxious trump who squabbles with his campaign staff. it also reveals how heavily involved he has been in speech writing, advertising, content and campaign spending. let's bring back our political panel. quite an amazing art cicle that all of us just read in the "new york times." it shows what is really going on, if you believe the "new york times" in this report, behind the scenes. >> well, it seems as if donald trump is looking for assurances, as all candidates do, from their staff, that they're not going to lose. he is very involved in the details of his ads, being someone who has been on television for a lot of his life.

so that's not surprising. what's interesting to me is the extent to which he has to be sort of convinced. you really got in this piece a sense of the ups and downs of this campaign and the kind of frenetic nature of the travel at the end of it. and the craziness of this particular race in which, depending on whom you listen to, 14 states could be in play. >> you know, the article also says that in recent days, they've take away his access to twitter. >> yes. >> they made him more disciplined. he himself acknowledges that. you can imagine in the not too distant past, development like today, he would have been tweeting about that within a a nanosecond. >> it's been obvious. we've been reporting on his discipline and he hasn't been tweeting. nevermind at 3:00 a.m. crazy things, but really any time of the day, things that become the story as opposed to what his campaign wants the story to be.

so, you know, i did an interview with kellyanne conway, the campaign manager, a couple week ago. i asked about this twitter thing. she said, i'm not going to take a grown man's twitter account away. guess what? they kind of did. they keep a focus on it. the other thing i found fascinating all along, but especially in the last couple of weeks, and we did some reporting on this, as well, is the effect of kushner, his son-in-law, ivanka's husband. he's been involved much more than anybody realizes in the nitty-gritty of this campaign, from the budgets to the spending to everything. but now, how he's taking on a different role, in that he has become a trump whisperer, the person around him to keep his calm and to be on the campaign trail. look, it is not just donald trump. i remember john mccain, people wanted to keep his calm. they gave him joe lieberman and cookies. it is true for every candidate. it is so grueling.

it gets very lonely. your aides, their aide, want to surround them with things that make them happy. >> sometimes the bubble is actually a good thing for a candidate because you can shield them from the daily ups and downs and the, you know, minutiae of how one poll moved and another moved. the notion of keeping him under control, only allowing him to dictate his tweets, so somebody else has to type it, so they can sort of translate. >> it certainly has helped his campaign in recent weeks as he stuck to the teleprompter, stopped tweeting so much, not making these statements. i don't think he's done many serious news interviews lately either. >> he hasn't. as gloria says, the bubble is co comforting and safe. for donald trump, he has to be outside of the bubble. he's watching cable television 24/17.

24/7. it eats him inside. if you read the story, which was terrifically -- >> are you saying cable television is anxiety? >> absolutely not. keep watching. >> that's right. >> best thing ever. >> you know, look, the bottom line for donald trump is, if you read the story, which again, was so well done -- >> fantastic. >> -- he talks about how he doesn't want the "new york times" reporter to come on because he's doing so well. donald trump himself knows what his limitations are. >> exactly. >> what is interesting, and i'll leave it on this, bill clinton and donald trump were once friends. the story was if you got on an airplane with bill clinton, you had to play cards with him. you had to talk with him. it's interesting, the comparisons between the gentlemen who are now bitter enemies. >> in some ways, this wasn't exactly a flatteri erintering pf donald trump. made him look like a man child surrounded by all of these people feeding him cookies. you wonder about a campaign, on the one hand, they're saying

there is momentum and they'll win michigan, mexico, colorado. maybe they'll win all sorts of states. they're leaking this information that doesn't make him look like a man in charge. doesn't make him look like a leader. you wonder about a campaign, where people are willing to leak this information and make someone who, again, wants to make everybody think he is a leader, makes him look pretty bad. >> it was a revealing article. >> melania said she had two boys at home. >> and would like him to stop tweeting. >> more on the breaking news. the fbi confirming the probe into the clinton server is over. we'll get jason chaffetz reaction. he'll libe live right after thi.

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we're on standby for hillary clinton, the democratic presidential candidate, expected to speak in manchester, new hampshire, shortly. we'll have a live coverage of that once it begins. you're seeing james taylor performing at the event now. the breaking news today, the letter sent by the fbi director james comey, saying after a thorough review of the latest e-mails discovered on anthony weiner's computer, the fbi stands by its original decision back in july. no criminal charges recommended against hillary clinton. joining us from salt lake city, republican congressman, jason chaffetz, the chairman of the house oversight government reform committee, one of the members who received this letter from director comey. congressman, thanks for joining us. >> thanks, wolf. >> the last time we spoke, you seemed pretty convinced this new investigation would turn up new evidence of wrongdoing by

hillary clinton. no such evidence according to the fbi director emerged. do you trust director comey's conclusion in this new phase of the investigation? >> well, there may be new evidence, but the idea that he's not going to prosecute, i wholly understand. you know, if that's his conclusion, i'm glad he communicated it. but obviously, ten days ago or so, when they said, hey, we are looking at this information, they had reopened what they were looking at, then we're all left with, wow, would you do that so close to an election unless you had something that was of real substance? so, you know, one of the most memorable elections we've ever had. it still begs a lot of questions that still need to be answered. >> yeah. a lot of people thought that his fbi agents told him there was something startling to issue such a statement, a letter to you and other members of congress with 11 days or so

remaking. >> yeah. >> now to conclude they've reviewed all these hundreds of thousands of e-mails and his original conclusion stands. do you trust this investigation? do you believe that the fbi director should be staying on the job or do you think he's been compromised? >> i have never suggested that he has been compromised. it begs a lot of questions that i think we need to answer long term. no matter who wins this election because we've got to understand, there was reference in the fbi documents about a quid pro quo. we need to understand that. the fbi director back in july gave about 2 minutes of very stunning, you know, statements about how careless hillary clinton was with classified material. how is it that classified material migrated to an unclassified setting? to this day, we learn more and more about the idea that hillary

clinton gave classified -- or access to classified information to people who had no security clearances. so there is a lot of things that we still need to figure out. and we also don't know what is going on with this probe or investigation of the clinton foundation. bob goodlat, the chairman of the house judiciary committee and i sent a request to look at, did hillary clinton lie under oath when she provided testimony to congress? that they haven't answered, as well. i could g o on and on for a hal hour, wolf. we have a lot of questions that need to be answered. >> basically, how do you think the trump campaign should react, congressman, to the latest development that basically says, as far as the fbi is concerned, the case against hillary clinton and her e-mail server is closed? >> look, i'm not going to give the trump campaign any sort of advice. it's really up to the american people. i think there are still a lot of questions. america has to answer.

they get to make this decision in the next 48 hours or so. because she did put classified information at risk. she did put people, unnecessarily, at risk. that is undisputable. nobody is disputing that. hillary clinton made a very conscious decision early in this process to do something that was convenient for her but put our nation at risk. that's part of her background and people have to process that and determine how important that is as they make a decision whether or not to vote for donald trump or hillary clinton. >> yeah, the fbi director said in his testimony to congress she was extremely careless in the way she dealt with her e-mail. the private server. but he also concluded that there was no intent to deal with classified information in an illegal way, if you will. as a result, he said no reputable prosecutor would go forward and prosecute hillary clinton in this case. >> but that's a question -- >> i understand you don't accept that, right? >> well, it is a question. where is intent? i read the conclusion of where

you need to get to intent. i believe the statute says if you have the intention of storing classified information in a non-secure setting, that's enough to violate the statute. the department of justice prosecuted people for far less than what is talked about here. let's remember, you have other people from huma abedin to sheryl mills to heather samuelson that had to have immunity agreements put in place. if this is truly closed, i think hillary clinton should look people in the eye, look in the camera and say, don't plead the fifth, no more immune fi agreements. go to congress in a bipartisan way and question them. let's get to the answer. it is one scary thing for people in the intelligence services, military, to suggest if you don't have the intention of giving the information to the russians or chinese, take home the classified information. put it on your home server.

are you kidding me? that puts people's lives in jeopardy. where is the level of intent that you need to get to to the fbi can prosecute it? they prosecuted for far less than hillary clinton did. >> we'll continue this conversation down the road. congressman chaffetz, thanks for joining us. >> thanks, wolf. coming up, battleground america by the numbers. for trump's path to 270, he must clinch north carolina or pennsylvania. the final fight for the swing states is next.

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both campaigns swarming the country these last two days before the election. hillary clinton relying on a bit of star power today. she was introduced by basketball star lebron james during a rally in cleveland. donald trump running on overdrive, holding rallies in five states today, including one that wrapped up in michigan. he raised the issue of voter fouad, repeated his claim that

the campaign would have people monitoring the polls. comments like that have g galvanized republicans and democrats, as well. we're joined live from philadelphia right now. sarah, what are you learning? >> here in the city of brotherly love, wolf, the political battle is as fierce as it's ever been. in some polling places, people are going to see something they did not see in 2012, and that's folks who are watching the polls. >> we're going to watch pennsylvania. go down to certain areas and watch and study and make sure other people don't come in and vote five times. >> reporter: the words of donald trump galvanizing people to act. >> watch certain areas. what do you think he means by that? is that racially charged? >> it is racially charged. he is appealing to people who already believe black and brown people are inherently dishonest and dangerous. >> reporter: trump says this is about potential voter fraud.

still, there are reports white supremacist groups say they'll show up to monitor inner city polls in philadelphia. if they do, they'll have company. from members of mega churches to local mosques. some 400 men of color say they will be at polling places this year, too. >> if it is raining, we'll have umbrellas. if the lines are long and people feel like giving up, we're going to tell jokes and entertain them so they don't leave. if someone comes to disrupt, we're going to shut that down through proper authorities. we'll be willing to call the police and also escort persons away from those areas. we will not allow anyone to disrupt free and fair elections in philadelphia. >> i also talked to a trump supporter who was out waiving flags around, saying he plans to also watch polls after he votes. a lot of folks thinking about that, but it is very important

to note that there really isn't early voting here. just a few people voting by mail. in pennsylvania, you've got to vote on the day, which is tuesday. they expect to have very long lines. when it comes to these poll watchers, there could be five to seven of these guys out at each of the polls, especially in predominantly black neighborhoods. wolf? >> i take it there must be a lot of anticipation, a lot of excitement where you are in philadelphia right now. give us a little flavor of that. >> yeah, i mean, no matter where you are, if you're getting the philly cheesesteak, as you can get in the city and they're good, people are talking about it. the corner store, people are talking about it. no matter where you go, everyone is talking about the election. one thing people are worried about is there is a septa strike. public transportation isn't available right now. there is a fight, push, right now, and in the morning to try to get that going again. we know the democrats have offered rides and so has uber. free rides to the voting polls

in philadelphia. >> sarah, thanks very much. sarah cider reporting for us. that does it for me. thanks for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in the situation room. anderson cooper picks up the special coverage right now. wolf, thanks very much. good evening from washington, d.c. what a night. if you are waiting for another shoe to drop in a presidential campaign that has, at times, resembled a closet, look at the floor. there is a brand-new piece of footwear on it tonight. fbi director james comey put it there, after sending a letter to congress revealing the discovery of e-mails from the clinton server investigation. he sent another one. basically summed up, nevermind. he broke with justice department traditions in saying anything close to an election. some thought the e-mail