Former President Bill Clinton Announces St. Petersburg Rally

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Tampa Bay area residents who want to see former President Bill Clinton live will get a chance on Tuesday. Clinton has announced plans to make three Florida stops to stump on behalf of his wife, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

President Clinton’s arrival comes as his wife’s projected lead in Sunshine State and national polls has slumped dramatically. The former secretary of state’s campaign took a heavy hit on Friday when FBI Director James Comey announced the discovery of new emails related to his agency’s investigation into Hillary Clinton.

Comey’s vague letter to Congressional leaders has been the subject of heavy criticism since news of its existence hit. The bombshell was dropped just 11 days before the presidential election.

The FBI has known about the new batch of emails related to its investigation of Hillary Clinton for weeks, CNN is reporting. The emails in question don't belong to Clinton herself but to one of her closest aides, Huma Abedin. Abedin's emails were discovered on a computer belonging to Anthony Weiner, the disgraced former Congressman from New York.

That information, though, was not made clear in Comey's letter to Congress announcing the new developments, which didn't say who the emails belonged to, how the FBI found them or in what "unrelated case" the emails were found.

Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, appointed by George W. Bush, called Comey out in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece published Monday.

"Regardless of what is in the newly discovered emails, the current Justice Department will not permit a grand jury to hear evidence in this case. And because only a grand jury can constitutionally bring charges, that means no charges will be brought," Mukasey wrote. "Which is to say, we know enough to conclude that what we don't know is of little immediate relevance to our current dismal situation."

Whether a grand jury is permitted to hear evidence or not, the news has impacted Hillary Clinton’s poll numbers. On Friday, Clinton led Republican challenger Donald Trump by 4.6 percentage points in national polls, according to RealClear Politics. By Monday, that lead had dwindled to 2.5 percentage points. In the Sunshine State, Clinton’s 1.6 percent projected lead on Friday was gone with Trump leading by a half a percentage point.

Trump has also been bombarded with scandals over the past few weeks. His numbers in national polls dropped sharply following the three presidential debates and the release of a video that showed him making lewd comments about women. Although the video was about a decade old, the New York businessman has also been fending off allegations from women who say he touched them inappropriately.

Bill Clinton has three canvass kickoff rallies planned in Florida on Tuesday, Nov. 1. He will make appearances in Florida City and Immokalee before heading to St. Petersburg. The St. Petersburg appearance will take place at the Thomas “Jet” Jackson Recreation Center at Wildwood Park, 1000 28th St. S. The rally is set for 6:30 p.m. with doors opening at 5:30.

Free tickets for the St. Petersburg event and the other two are available on the Clinton campaign website.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons