The Note: Politics on the Jersey Shore

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July 6, 2016

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Politics on the Jersey Shore

Clinton Campaigns in Atlantic City

Hillary Clinton campaigns in Atlantic City today, and this morning her campaign is up with a new online video highlighting Donald Trump's business record in the city, ABC's LIZ KREUTZ notes. WATCH: https://youtu.be/GduZeyk2mNk Clinton's speech today will take place in front of the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. She will be introduced by a small business person who says he or she has been negatively impacted by Trump's work in the city. Meanwhile, Donald Trump campaigns today in Ohio with potential running mate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Trump Accuses Clinton of Bribery

Trump expressed disbelief at the FBI's recommendation that the Department of Justice not pursue charges against Hillary Clinton for the use of a private email server while she served as President Obama's secretary of state and suggested that Clinton bribed the attorney general. "I'll tell you that we have a rigged system folks," Trump said during a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina last night. Trump accused Clinton of bribing Attorney General Loretta Lynch with the reported promise of staying on during her administration. "So Hillary said today, at least according to what I saw on television, which you can't always believe. I actually found it hard to believe she'd said this, but she said today that we may consider the attorney general to go forward. That's like a bribe, isn't it? Isn't it sort of a bribe? I think it's a bribe," Trump said. More from ABC's JOHN SANTUCCI, CANDACE SMITH and VERONICA STRACQUALURSI: http://abcn.ws/29kp5nX

Fact Check

Clinton has not said publicly that she would consider retaining Lynch. Trump presumably was referring to a New York Times article, quoting Democratic sources suggesting Clinton may be open to doing so if elected. Lynch has said that she will accept the decision of Department of Justice prosecutors as to whether to file charges against Clinton. The DOJ has not yet made a decision.

Analysis -- ABC's Rick Klein

FBI Director James Comey didn't find enough evidence to recommend criminal charges against Hillary Clinton. But he found just the right amount of evidence – and presented it in just the right way – to hasten something with an arguably higher bar: Republican unity. Comey's findings amounted to a point-by-point repudiation of the explanations Clinton has used for more than a year to explain her email use. More broadly, they combine with the optics around them (the Bill Clinton-Loretta Lynch meeting, President Obama's campaign debut) to help construct a powerful argument against Clinton that – to quote Donald Trump – show that the system is "absolutely, totally rigged." (It was no mistake that House Speaker Paul Ryan, who earlier in the day criticized Trump for the Star of David Tweet, was on television by nightfall to question whether Clinton should even get intelligence briefings.) It's a scenario we've seen play out before: Republicans find a way to sing in unison when it comes to opposing Clinton. And it just so happens that for all of Trump's flaws as a candidate, this is a song he's adept as writing.