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Exclusive: Tim Kaine condemns "cryptic" FBI probe of new Clinton emails

Watch the VICE News Tonight on HBO interview with Tim Kaine:

Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine sharply criticized FBI Director James Comey Friday for the handling of information related to the renewed investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server. Kaine called the announcement “cryptic” and questioning the timing, just 11 days before Election Day.

“When you do this 11 days before a presidential election and you don’t provide many details, but details are apparently being given by the FBI to the press, this is very, very troubling,” Kaine said in an exclusive interview with Vice News Tonight on HBO in Tallahassee, Florida. “We hope that the director, and we really think that he should, give a clearer accounting of what’s going on.”

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In a letter to several leaders in Congress, Comey announced a renewed investigation into the home email server Clinton used while secretary of state after discovering pertinent emails “in connection with an unrelated case.” The “unrelated case” was an investigation into former Congressman Anthony Weiner allegedly sexting with a minor, the New York Times reported.

Weiner’s now-estranged wife, Huma Abedin, is one of Clinton’s closest and longest-serving aides. Comey wrote that the FBI was taking “investigative steps” to determine whether the newly discovered emails “contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation.”

Kaine expressed frustration over the fact that he learned details of Comey’s letter from leaked media reports, including news items that were connected to Anthony Weiner.

“Somebody in the FBI is giving information to reporters about it,” he said. “And so the reporters are able to report details that we haven’t been told and it’s 11 days before a presidential election struck me as highly unusual.”

Kaine said he is confident that after reviewing the new emails that the FBI will reach the same finding that it did in July when Comey said “no reasonable prosecutor” would bring charges based on the evidence collected. “We expect that any additional examination will reach the same conclusion that was reached before,” Kaine said.

This post has been updated to clarify Tim Kaine’s comments about FBI Director James Comey’s letter to members of Congress.