A fresh development over an old email controversy has provided us with the latest twist in the US election campaign, which is now in its last full week.
ADVERTISEMENTA fresh development over an old email controversy has provided us with the latest twist in the US election campaign, which is now in its last full week.
Our Washington correspondent Stefan Grobe talked us through it.
Mark Davis, Lyon
Stefan, who is accusing who of what here?
Stefan Grobe, Washington
Well Mark it’s Halloween and there’s nobody who’s more scared than the Clinton campaign, because this has the potential of derailing her candidacy. I say ‘potential’ because we don’t know what’s in there and we might not know before election day.
Mark Davis
How is Hillary Clinton responding to the FBI’s latest revelation?
Stefan Grobe
The Clinton campaign has of course jumped on this going after Comey aggressively. At the same time they’re publicly projecting confidence while working behind the scenes to galvanise their supporters. The message being: everything is under control, let’s not panic with victory within our grasp.
The latest polls taken after the FBI announcement don’t give a clear picture. The race is tight, with Clinton still in the lead yet one third of voters said the email issue made them less likely to vote for Clinton. You need to understand that most of that third are Republican voters or Republican leaning independents so again it’s too early to tell whether this has an impact.
Mark Davis
There is lot of dirt being spread in this campaign, a lot of mud being flung. How does the public perceive this 2016 election campaign?
Stefan Grobe
People just have had enough of it. There’s a poll that came out over the weekend according to which 71% of voters would love to see the election take place today. They are so fed up with this. And you ask people and they’re unhappy with both candidates. They say “If this is what America has to offer, we’re in trouble.”