Donald Trump said Clinton's emails would prove a crime. Kellyanne Conway defends that incorrect speculation on CNN.

Anderson Cooper and Kellyanne Conway spar over FBI exculpating Hillary Clinton

(Image credit: CNN/YouTube)

last updated 7 November 2016

On Sunday, FBI Director James Comey said that, his recent letter to Congress notwithstanding, the FBI has found no new prosecutable emails from Hillary Clinton's private server. On CNN Sunday night, Anderson Cooper noted that Donald Trump has been going around saying all sorts of things about those newly discovered (almost entirely duplicate) emails, including that they would prove Clinton committed a crime.

"Wasn't it irresponsible for him, at that point, to be saying such things without having any facts, particularly now that Comey has come forward and said there was nothing there?" Cooper asked Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway. "He's welcome to speculate as to why FBI Director Comey would make an unprecedented move so close to an election," Conway said. "I appreciate what Donald Trump had to say compared to the Clinton people just going right after Comey, making him the complete, um, like a nuclear device against this poor guy." "But wait, you guys have been going after Comey and the FBI... since July," Cooper said.

Conway disagreed, saying that Comey earlier said something different to Congress, that Congress' low approval rating proves that a lot of people think the government is rigged, that Clinton was the irresponsible one for setting up a private server, and that people on CNN speculated about Comey's letter, too. "You know what, Anderson, everybody speculated for nine days, so he's the one that shouldn't be, right?" she asked. "Everybody on CNN speculated 24/7." "If everybody jumped off a bridge, doesn't mean you should jump off a bridge, too," Cooper said, pointing out that Conway was comparing a potential president of the United States to cable-news pundits. Watch below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.