Hillary Clinton FBI email probe reopened: What did Clinton right hand aide, Huma Abedin tell estranged husband, Anthony Weiner?
The sky may have just fallen from the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign after an announcement Friday afternoon that the FBI has reopened its investigation into the former Secretary of State after new emails were found.
In a note written by FBI Director, James Corney to several chairs of congressional committees, the investigator voiced his office’s need to taken requisite steps in light of new information.
Read a statement: ‘In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of email that appear to be pertinent’
Adding: ‘I agree 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.”
While the FBI had initially declined to cite the source of the new email trove, a report via the nytimes quoted FBI officials saying that the trove of emails were discovered after seizing electronic devices belonging to Huma Abedin, a top aide to Hillary Clinton and her estranged husband, former disgraced politician, Anthony Weiner.
The new emails are linked to the FBI’s investigation of Anthony Weiner’s illicit text messages to a 15 year old girl in North Carolina. The dialogues told FBI the number of emails uncovered numbered in the thousands.
Some have speculated that Abedin may have sought to have her estranged husband indemnified from an upcoming probe, a clear violation of Clinton’s status as a lawmaker. While others wonder if the emails could potentially reveal issues about the motivations and setup of the private server which led to calls for an investigation into Clinton in the first place.
Notes a report via smh.com.au: This suggests investigators found state department documents on Abedin’s or Weiner’s devices, which must now be analyzed to ascertain whether or not they contained classified data that might have been criminally mishandled.
Cautioning against the severity of the new emails uncovered, the FBI director said the bureau had yet to assess the importance of the material, while also saying he didn’t know how long the new investigation would take.
According to NBC, the FBI came across Huma Abedin’s emails after searching a laptop that both she and her husband used to share. It is thought, Weiner had used the device to send illicit sext messages and images.
The report says the FBI will have to go to court to obtain a warrant in order to examine those emails. Of question is if a warrant will be obtained – and how long it’ll take the FBI to go through thousands of Abedin’s emails if it’s granted.
Whether emails between Abedin and Clinton involved any classified information remains yet to be seen.
The above comes with less than eleven days to November 8 election day, throwing a potential bombshell and spanner in Clinton’s presidential election campaign.
Reacting to the news, the Clinton campaign told CNN: ‘We’re learning about this just like you all are.’
Responding to the announcement, Representative Bob Goodlatte (R-Virginia), chair of the House Judiciary Committee, praised the decision to reopen the case.
“Now that the FBI has reopened the matter, it must conduct the investigation with impartiality and thoroughness,” he said in a statement. “The American people deserve no less and no one should be above the law.”
Reiterated Reince Priebus, chairman of the R.N.C: ‘The F.B.I.’s decision to reopen their criminal investigation into Hillary Clinton’s secret email server just 11 days before the election shows how serious this discovery must be,’
‘This stunning development raises serious questions about what records may not have been turned over and why, and whether they show intent to violate the law.’
The latest developments follow almost 15,000 new Clinton emails being discovered in September.
The revelation led to Republican Presidential contender, Donald Trump who was in Manchester, New Hampshire, on a campaign trail, immediately lauding the decision.
Told Trump: ‘They are reopening the case into her criminal and illegal conduct that threatens the security of the United States,’
‘We must not let her take her criminal scheme into the Oval Office.’
Adding: ‘I have great respect for the fact that the FBI and the Department of Justice have the courage to right the horrible mistake that they made,” he said. “This was a grave miscarriage of justice that the American people fully understand, and it is everybody’s hope that it is about to be corrected.’
‘With that being said, the rest of my speech is going to be so boring. Should I even make the speech?’
https://t.co/eR73VQLwJs Hillary has a Weiner problem.
— Jeremy Faison (@jerfaison) October 28, 2016
#Trump campaign manager @KellyannePolls hears news of new FBI probe into @HillaryClinton emails live during our intv https://t.co/19xW5OB0pD pic.twitter.com/Rn7ufC2oHC
— Bianna Golodryga (@biannagolodryga) October 28, 2016