The FBI obtained a warrant to search emails related to the probe of Hillary Clinton's private server that were discovered on ex-congressman Anthony Weiner's laptop, law enforcement officials confirmed Sunday.
The warrant came two days after FBI Director James Comey revealed the existence of the emails, which law enforcement sources said were linked to Weiner's estranged wife, top Clinton aide Huma Abedin. The sources said Abedin used the same laptop to send thousands of emails to Clinton.
The FBI already had a warrant to search Weiner's laptop, but that only applied to evidence of his allegedly illicit communications with an underage girl.
Agents will now compare the latest batch of messages with those that have already been investigated to determine whether any classified information was sent from Clinton's server.
Comey's disclosure included few details about what the emails contained. In a letter to Congress, he said the FBI learned "of the existence of e-mails that appear to be pertinent" to the Clinton probe, but he added that the agency "cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant."
The revelation ignited fierce criticism. Citing the longstanding practice of avoiding even the appearance of acting in a manner that could tip the political scales, former Justice Department spokesman Matt Miller said that "most people, when they hear that the FBI is involved, automatically assume the negative."
Clinton called the move an "unprecedented" departure from FBI policy, and on Sunday, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid scolded Comey for potentially breaking the law.
"Your actions in recent months have demonstrated a disturbing double standard for the treatment of sensitive information, with what appears to be clear intent to aid one political party over another," the letter says. "I am writing to inform you that my office has determined that these actions may violate the Hatch Act."
The act bars government officials from using their authority to influence elections.
Reid also accused Comey of shielding Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump from scrutiny over his connections to Russia, saying "it has become clear that you possess explosive information about close ties and coordination" between Trump and his advisers and the Russian government.
The FBI didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on Reid's letter. Earlier, Comey said in an internal message to FBI employees that "we don't ordinarily tell Congress about ongoing investigations, but here I feel an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed."
The note added that it would "be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record. At the same time, however, given that we don't know the significance of this newly discovered collection of e-mails, I don't want to create a misleading impression."
Slight correction to headline: There are no claims of new material either, they have yet to look at the emails so they may all be duplicates of what they have already seen.
ReplyDeleteIt is new material which might turn out to be the identical with what they have already examined
ReplyDeleteNot to be overly pedantic, but if it is identical to what they have already examined, it is not new material. If you reprint your old book, it is not a new book; it is just another copy of the same book. This point is important because several Republicans have stated the (false) claim that if there wasn't something new, and damaging/criminal, in the emails, Comey would not have written his letter. The truth is, as the FBI has confirmed, that he wrote the letter without having looked at any of the emails. That had not even received a warrant to look at the emails at the time he wrote the letter.
ReplyDeleteI understand your point - but it is still included in the commonly accepted meaning of new
ReplyDeleteThe idea that Comey did this without a very, very good reason is laughable.
ReplyDeleteHe acknowledges he doesn't know what is on the computer - so what is his very very good reason? You don't know and apparently nobody else does either.
ReplyDeleteThe first time around he at least had all the data and he made a judgment call that could have gone either way. This time he has no indication of wrong doing - only the potential that it might show wrong doing in a number of weeks
the only justification he gave is that it "might" contain something which is relevant but he won't know for many weeks
I don't believe for a moment that the brief note notifying Congress of the continuation of the investigation contained all he knows or suspects about the matter. He cannot say more without prejudicing an ongoing investigation. But you know who can tell us more? Hillary Clinton! She can release all her emails, including the 33,000 she says she deleted. She could have done this all along if trasparency is really what she wants. But of course, she didn't, b/c it's not. For me this is evidence that Comey is playing it more or less straight, even if the DOJ is not.
ReplyDeleteNah, he knows there's something big there. Here's a quote from a CNN piece:
ReplyDeleteAgents saw enough of the emails that they believed there could be
classified information and that it warranted further inquiry, law
enforcement sources told CNN.
See? They saw enough ...
And this:
Investigators believe it's likely the newly recovered trove will include
emails that were deleted from the Clinton server before the FBI took
possession of it as part of that earlier investigation.
That is huge. Huge. To see what Clinton tried so hard and so illegally to hide. Comey was completely justified.
Here's the CNN article:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/30/politics/clinton-emails-fbi-abedin/index.html
Huma Abedin's -- and, by extension, Hillary Clinton's -- close ties to the anti-Israel, anti-Semitic, anti-American Muslim Brotherhood.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nationalreview.com/corner/354351/huma-unmentionables-andrew-c-mccarthy