FBI Director James Comey said Friday in a letter to Congress that the FBI has learned of the “existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation” into Democratic presidential nominee and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s handling of sensitive material on her personal server.
The emails were discovered on electronic devices belonging to longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her husband, Anthony Weiner, a former congressman from New York, according to mulitple reports. Abedin is a top official with the Clinton campaign.
The emails did not come from Clinton’s private email server, The Associated Press reported.
The Washington Post, citing a person with knowledge of the inquiry, reported that the emails were on a computer that was used by Weiner and Abedin. Officials are investigating Weiner for allegedly sexting with a 15-year-old girl.
The news that the FBI was launching a new investigation into Clinton comes just 11 days before the Nov. 8 election and after early voting has started in many states across the country.
“In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation. I am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed me on this yesterday, and I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation,” FBI Director James Comey wrote in a letter to members of Congress dated Oct. 28.
BIG: The FBI is reopening its investigation into @HillaryClinton's email server. Here's the letter from the FBI to Congress: pic.twitter.com/OKjipTeiJp
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) October 28, 2016
Clinton ignored a shouted question about the emails as she deplaned in Cedar Rapids, Iowa for a campaign event on Friday afternoon. She did not speak about the latest developments during her rally.
“FBI Director Comey should immediately provide the American public more information than is contained in the letter he sent to eight Republican committee chairmen. Already, we have seen characterizations that the FBI is ‘reopening’ an investigation but Comey's words do not match that characterization. Director Comey's letter refers to emails that have come to light in an unrelated case, but we have no idea what those emails are and the Director himself notes they may not even be significant,” Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta said in a statement.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump called Friday’s news that the investigation may continue “bigger than Watergate.” Trump said “perhaps finally justice will be done.”
Comey announced in July that Clinton would not face charges for handling sensitive material on her personal computer server.
Abedin announced she was separating from Weiner in August after the New York Post published photos of him sexting with another woman while his young son was in bed with him. A previous sexting scandal cost Weiner his post in Congress.
Weiner and Abedin were married in 2010. They have one child. Weiner was elected to Congress in New York’s 9th District in 1998, serving from January 1999 until June 2011.
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