Was the FBI also investigating Trump when Comey made his shocking announcement?

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Eleven days prior to the presidential election, FBI director James Comey made a surprise announcement that his department would launch a new investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state. Democrats and Republican alike accused him of influencing the election, much to Donald Trump’s benefit, and new evidence seems to drive that point home.

According to a Freedom of Information Request and sources within the apartment who spoke with Vice News, it’s likely that the FBI could have been investigating the now presidential elect. While campaigning in Florida over the summer, he called upon Russia to find the “30,000 missing emails” from Clinton’s private server. And in September, he suggested, for the first time, that someone should assassinate Clinton.

“The nature of your request implicates investigative records the FBI may or may not compile pursuant to its broad criminal and national security investigative missions and functions,” the department said in its response. “Accordingly, the FBI cannot confirm or deny the existence of any such records about your subject as the mere acknowledgment of such records existence or nonexistence would in and of itself trigger foreseeable harm to agency interests.”

This can be interpreted as a Glamor response, an especially rare statement in which the department refuses to confirm or deny information that would interfere with investigations. Vice reports that while a full-scale investigation is unlikely, it’s newsworthy even if one agent opened a file in response to Trump’s comments. Now, lawyers plan on challenging the department’s response in court but will wait to hear from an identical request from the Secret Service.