As for James Comey, the following was written to Josh Marshall at TPM by a "DOJ veteran with top level experience handling high profile public corruption cases."

"I've generally been a big Comey fan, but I'm appalled at what's happened here. At the end of the day, the DOJ policies on not commenting on ongoing investigations are really important and should have been followed from the beginning. He acted prematurely here and, I think, irresponsibly by sending the letter, especially without knowing whether there was anything new. Many voters can't help but assume that the FBI must have found something new. Regardless, if you think you're in a no-win, fall back on the policy and make no comment. I think back to investigations of members of Congress that I handled and cannot fathom having my FBI agents make public comments about reviewing potential new evidence in real time less than two weeks before an election. It's just insane. Career destroying, Democracy distorting, insanity."