Orlando: US President Barack Obama today broke his silence over the FBI's decision to launch a renewed probe into Hillary Clinton's use of private email server as his secretary of state, saying in investigations "we don't operate on innuendo" but "concrete decisions".
Obama appeared to be critical of FBI director James B Comey in his remarks even as the White House refuted suggestions that the president gave any such impression.
"I do think that there is a norm that, you know, when there are investigations, we don't operate on innuendo. We don't operate on incomplete information. We don't operate on leaks.
"We operate based on concrete decisions that are made," he told website Now This News in first public comments after America's top cop announced a renewed probe into a cache of recently discovered emails.
Comey had said the emails may or may not be pertinent to an earlier investigation into Democratic presidential nominee Clinton's handling of classified information.
Obama said he has made a "very deliberate effort to make sure that I don't look like I'm meddling" in what are supposed to be independent processes for making these assessments as he went on to make his veiled criticism of Comey's handling of the issue without naming him.
"Setting aside the particulars of this case. I know that she is somebody who has always looked out for the interest of America and the American people first,"
"When this was investigated thoroughly the last time, the conclusion of the FBI, the conclusion of the Justice Department, the conclusion of repeated congressional investigations was that she had made some mistakes but that there wasn't anything there that was prosecutable," he said.
Democrats have questioned the agency's motive behind its decision taken days before the November 8 election, and Clinton and her campaign have pressed Comey to put out the "full and complete facts" about the probe.
The White House, however, refuted suggestions that Obama weighing in on the issues reflected that he was critical of the FBI's decision in this regard.
"Nothing changed. If you read the full transcript of the President's remarks, you will see that the President went out of his way that he wasn't going to comment on any specific investigation. The President said that a couple of times," White House Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz said.
