--- title: Hillary Clinton Email: Donald Trump Praises FBI for Decision description: Donald Trump praised the FBI's decision to reopen an investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails. canonical: https://time.com/4549586/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-email-fbi-investigation-reopen/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-28T17:58:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T01:30:01.468Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Praises FBI Over Clinton Email Investigation og:description: A reversal from his previous comments. og:url: https://time.com/4549586/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-email-fbi-investigation-reopen/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdcf0a13b3565e4bd/6988ac01ab6d77511a6abbe2/donald-trump-ral.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: OH: Donald Trump Campaigns in Toledo og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Praises FBI Over Clinton Email Investigation twitter:description: A reversal from his previous comments. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdcf0a13b3565e4bd/6988ac01ab6d77511a6abbe2/donald-trump-ral.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Praises FBI Over Hillary Clinton Email Investigation  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Oct 28, 2016 5:58 PM UTC  Donald Trump greets supporters as he approaches the stage during a campaign rally at SeaGate Center in Toledo, Ohio, on Oct. 27, 2016. Donald Trump greets supporters as he approaches the stage during a campaign rally at SeaGate Center in Toledo, Ohio, on Oct. 27, 2016.Emily Molli—NurPhoto/Sipa USA  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Oct 28, 2016 5:58 PM UTC Taking the stage just minutes after news broke that the FBI is is [reopening the investigation](http://time.com/4549527/hillary-clinton-emails-fbi-reopen/?xid=homepage) into [Hillary Clinton](http://time.com/4546942/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-lead-poll/)‘s use of a [private email server](http://time.com/4400757/hillary-clinton-fbi-james-comey-poll/), Donald Trump praised the bureau and said he hoped the news would shake up the presidential race. “Her criminal and illegal conduct … threatens the security of the United States of America,” Trump said to open his Manchester, New Hampshire, rally Friday afternoon. “Hillary Clinton’s corruption is on a scale we have never seen before. We must not let her take her criminal scheme into the Oval Office.” He offered a backhanded compliment to the FBI for reopening the investigation, despite deciding this summer not to recommend criminal charges. Since July, when the FBI [recommended no criminal charges](http://time.com/4394178/hillary-clinton-email-fbi-investigation/) against Clinton for her handling of classified information, Trump has repeatedly criticized the agency, [“rigged,”](http://time.com/4393399/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-fbi-email-case/) arguing that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders [“lost the FBI primary”](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/07/06/donald-trump-bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-fbi-email/86744434/) and suggesting that President Obama [somehow meddled](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/fbi-recommends-no-charges-against-clinton-in-email-probe-225102) in the investigation. But he changed his tune on Friday. “I have great respect for the fact that the FBI and the Department of Justice are now willing to have the courage to right the horrible mistake that they made,” Trump said. “This was a grave miscarriage of justice that the American people fully understood. And it is everybody’s hope that it is to be corrected.” Trump said the FBI’s announcement may even have swayed his opinion that there’s a conspiracy against him in the election. “It might not be as rigged as I thought,” he said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4549586/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-email-fbi-investigation-reopen/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4549586/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-email-fbi-investigation-reopen/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Praises FBI Over Hillary Clinton Email Investigation","datePublished":"2016-10-28T17:58:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:30:01.468Z","description":"A reversal from his previous comments","url":"https://time.com/4549586/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-email-fbi-investigation-reopen/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election topic","FBI"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdcf0a13b3565e4bd/6988ac01ab6d77511a6abbe2/donald-trump-ral.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdcf0a13b3565e4bd/6988ac01ab6d77511a6abbe2/donald-trump-ral.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"OH: Donald Trump Campaigns in Toledo","caption":"OH: Donald Trump Campaigns in Toledo","creditText":"Emily Molli—NurPhoto/Sipa USA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4549586/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-email-fbi-investigation-reopen/","name":"Donald Trump Praises FBI Over Hillary Clinton Email Investigation"}}]}] ```