Sources close to the investigation have said the latest emails were discovered as part of a separate probe of former Democratic U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of Clinton aide Huma Abedin.
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The New York Post, famous for its brilliance in racy front-page headlines, came out over the weekend with: “Stroking Gun, Weiner sext probe found dirt on the Hill”.
Abedin has worked for Clinton since she was a 19-year-old White House intern in the 1990s, and Clinton has likened her to a second daughter.
A United States official told The Associated Press the FBI, which had a warrant to begin the review, would be focusing on those deemed pertinent to its earlier Clinton email server investigation. It is unclear what is contained in the emails or if any of them was sent or received by Clinton herself.
A lot hinges on how numerous emails are new. So to be clear, this new investigation isn’t directly about Clinton, it’s about Abedin, but Clinton was the one who used the private server and oversaw the “culture” of the State Department that was “lacking in the kind of care for classified information found elsewhere in the government”, as Comey put it.
Officials say they are providing all the necessary resources to streamline the process given the sense of urgency so close to the election.
But the investigators are expected to spend more time doing other work, including likely coordinating with other federal agencies to determine what – if any – classified materials are in the emails.
Comey had previously announced that, while Clinton had been “extremely careless” with classified material on her private email server, he would not recommend prosecuting her. In Comey’s view, he was faced with two bad options: Not be upfront with Congress and risk the news leaking out or violating DOJ protocol and living up to his word to Congress to provide any updates related to the investigation. He said its standing could be further damaged if the FBI investigated Manafort but kept that secret.
The FBI director’s decision to relaunch an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails has jolted the USA political establishment in the final countdown to Election Day on November 8.
Justice Department officials who were advised of the FBI’s intention to notify Congress about the discovery expressed concern that the action would be inconsistent with department protocols created to avoid the appearance of interference in an election.
Did Lynch try to stop Comey?
Some wanted Comey’s head on a stake for throwing what was considered an unsubstantiated wrench into the election at the 11th hour – he had notably not yet seen the emails in question – while others said he had no choice as America’s top domestic lawman.
Top Clinton campaign officials urged Comey on Sunday to provide more details, charging that his “inappropriate” letter is fueling conspiracy theories that could hurt the Democratic nominee just days before the election. “We would have preferred that that not happen, but now that it has happened”, Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta said on “State of the Union”. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has even suggested that Comey may have broken The Hatch Act, a law preventing government officials from influencing elections.
What is the Trump camp saying? Clinton had held a 6 point advantage over Trump in the five-day tracking poll last Thursday.
“We have one ultimate check on Hillary’s corruption and that is the power of the vote”, Trump told a rally in Las Vegas on Sunday.
Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland said in a statement Monday that Democrats have been seeking an investigation into former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, who has been linked to pro-Kremlin elements in Russian Federation and Ukraine.
“We don’t plan on making the Comey investigation the main centerpiece of our messaging”.
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What do the polls say? “Barring something like a true indictment of her or him being caught today fondling some woman, I just don’t think anything is going to change the fundamentals, which favour Clinton”.
