--- title: Hillary Clinton Emails: President Obama on James Comey description: President Obama does not believe that FBI Director James Comey is seeking to influence the outcome of the presidential election canonical: https://time.com/4551972/hillary-clinton-emails-fbi-barack-obama-james-comey/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-31T18:08:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:23.621Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Doesn't Think the FBI Chief Is Trying to Influence the Election og:description: "He's in a tough spot" og:url: https://time.com/4551972/hillary-clinton-emails-fbi-barack-obama-james-comey/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte774656cc727cfb5/6988ac4797cdff34256ae642/josh-earnest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Doesn't Think the FBI Chief Is Trying to Influence the Election twitter:description: "He's in a tough spot" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte774656cc727cfb5/6988ac4797cdff34256ae642/josh-earnest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama Doesn't Think the FBI Chief Is Trying to Influence the Election, White House Says > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Oct 31, 2016 6:08 PM UTC  White House spokesman Josh Earnest arrives for the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, on Aug. 22, 2016. White House spokesman Josh Earnest arrives for the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, on Aug. 22, 2016.Nicholas Kamm—AFP/Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Oct 31, 2016 6:08 PM UTC President Obama does not believe that [FBI Director James Comey](http://time.com/4551195/hillary-clinton-email-comey-abedin/?xid=homepage) is seeking to influence the outcome of the presidential election through his [surprise disclosure](http://time.com/4551186/will-the-october-surprise-matter/) last week that authorities discovered new emails potentially tied to Hillary Clinton’s private server, Obama’s spokesman said Monday. “I’ll neither criticize nor defend Director Comey’s decisions about what to make public in the context of this investigation,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Monday. “That’s because I do not have independent knowledge of the decisions that are made to release this information.” Comey has [faced backlash](http://time.com/4551195/hillary-clinton-email-comey-abedin/?xid=homepage) in the wake of the release of a letter to Congress indicating the discovery of emails. They were reportedly found in the unrelated investigation into former Congressman Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin. Democratic allies, former prosecutors, and former Justice Department officials from both parties have criticized Comey’s actions as breaking with Justice Department guidelines and longstanding traditions of not releasing sensitive information close to an election. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid suggested Comey’s release may have violated the Hatch Act. “The President doesn’t believe that Director Comey is intentionally trying to influence the outcome of an election,” Earnest said. “The President doesn’t believe that he’s secretly strategizing to benefit one candidate or one political party. He’s in a tough spot and he’s the one who will be in a position to defend his actions in the face of significant criticism” Earnest said the White House has not been briefed on the email investigation or the existence of an investigation into the “activities or habits” of the Republican nominee. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4551972/hillary-clinton-emails-fbi-barack-obama-james-comey/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4551972/hillary-clinton-emails-fbi-barack-obama-james-comey/"},"headline":"President Obama Doesn't Think the FBI Chief Is Trying to Influence the Election, White House Says","datePublished":"2016-10-31T18:08:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:23.621Z","description":"\"He's in a tough spot\"","url":"https://time.com/4551972/hillary-clinton-emails-fbi-barack-obama-james-comey/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","White House","Josh Earnest"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte774656cc727cfb5/6988ac4797cdff34256ae642/josh-earnest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte774656cc727cfb5/6988ac4797cdff34256ae642/josh-earnest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS","caption":"US-POLITICS","creditText":"Nicholas Kamm—AFP/Getty Images","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/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4551972/hillary-clinton-emails-fbi-barack-obama-james-comey/","name":"President Obama Doesn't Think the FBI Chief Is Trying to Influence the Election, White House Says"}}]}] ```