Email action by FBI may have broken law: Senator

washington — The US Senate’s top Democrat has blasted FBI chief James Comey for announcing a new review of Hillary Clinton’s emails just days before the presidential election, an action he says “may have broken the law.”

Allegations Clinton put the United States at risk by using a private email server while secretary of state were thrust back into the spotlight Friday when Comey revealed a renewed FBI probe into the matter based on a previously unknown trove of emails.

“As soon as you came into possession of the slightest innuendo related to secretary Clinton, you rushed to publicise it in the most negative light possible,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said in a statement.

“Through your partisan actions, you may have broken the law,” Reid said, alleging that Comey had violated the Hatch Act, which bars the FBI from influencing elections.

Clinton has demanded the FBI director explain in detail why he had effectively reopened an inquiry declared complete in July, branding Comey’s move “deeply troubling” so close to Election Day. According to US media, the probe was renewed after agents seized a laptop used by Clinton’s close aide, Huma Abedin, and her now estranged husband, Anthony Weiner.

The disgraced former congressman who resigned in 2011 after sending explicit online messages is under investigation over allegations he sent sexual overtures to a 15-year-old girl. —