FBI obtains warrant in email probe,
650,000 emails found on ex-congressman’s computer, though not all are relevant
The FBI has obtained a warrant to search the emails found on a computer used by former congressman Anthony Weiner that may contain evidence relevant to the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server, according to law enforcement officials.
One official said the total number of emails recovered in the Weiner investigation is close to 650,000 — though that reflects many emails that are not in any way relevant to the Clinton investigation. Officials familiar with the case said, though, the messages include a significant amount of correspondence associated with Clinton and her top aide Huma Abedin, Weiner’s estranged wife.
The agents investigating Clinton’s use of a private email server knew early this month that messages recovered in a separate probe might be germane to their case, but they waited weeks before briefing the FBI director, according to people familiar with the case. FBI director James Comey has written that he was informed of the development Thursday, and he sent a letter to legislators the next day letting them know that he thought the team should take “appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails.”
That missive ignited a political firestorm less than two weeks before the election. Almost instantly, Comey came under intense criticism for his timing and for bucking the Justice Department’s guidance not to tell Congress about the development. And his announcement means that Clinton could have to contend with the news that the FBI has resumed its investigation of her use of a private email server — without any real clarity on if its investigators will actually find anything significant — up to and beyond election day.
People familiar with the case said they had known about the messages since soon after New York FBI agents seized a computer related to their investigation into Weiner, who is alleged to have exchanged explicit messages with a 15-year-old girl.
An announcement from the FBI in early October, when the emails were discovered, might have been less politically damaging for Clinton than one coming less than two weeks before the Nov. 8 election. It is also unclear what agents have been doing in the intervening time — for instance, whether they were trying to learn more about the emails before notifying Comey. An FBI spokesperson declined to provide a statement.
Comey wrote in his letter to Congress, “We don’t know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails,” and federal law enforcement officials have said that investigators on the Clinton email team still had yet to thoroughly review them. They would need a warrant to do so, according to an official familiar with the case.
Comey in July announced he was recommending the investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state be closed without charges. But he said investigators had found classified information on the server and characterized Clinton’s and her aides’ conduct as “extremely careless.”
Provided they get the legal authority to do so, investigators will be looking at whether the newly uncovered emails contain classified information or other evidence that could help advance the Clinton email probe. It is possible, though, that the messages could be duplicative of others already recovered elsewhere or that they could be a collection of benign, personal notes.
The process, former FBI officials have said, could be cumbersome and drag on after the election — particularly if wholly new emails were found. Investigators would have to read those for potentially relevant information, and, if there were questions about their classification, send them to other agencies for review.
Legislators on both sides of the political aisle are likely to raise questions about why the team investigating Clinton’s private email took so long to brief Comey. Clinton and her backers have pushed aggressively for the bureau to release more information about its findings and criticized the agency for making its work public without knowing more.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has called the matter “the biggest scandal since Watergate.”