FBI PROBING NEW CLINTON EMAILS
Hillary calls on feds to release all information ‘ immediately’
FBI Director James Comey said Friday that investigators had found new emails related to the bureau’s previously closed inquiry into Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified information, restarting a long- simmering debate over the Democratic presidential nominee’s conduct as secretary of State.
In a letter to senior lawmakers explaining his decision to make new inquiries, Comey said “the FBI cannot yet assess” whether the information is “significant” nor could he offer a timetable for how long it will take investigators to make an assessment.
An official familiar with the matter said Friday the newmaterials, perhaps thousands of emails, were discovered in the ongoing and separate investigation into sexually charged communications between former New York congressman Anthony Weiner and a
“The FBI cannot yet assess” whether the information is “significant.” James Comey, FBI director
“Hillary Clinton has nobody but herself to blame. This decision, long overdue, is the result of her reckless use of a private email server, and her refusal to be forthcoming with federal investigators.” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R- Wis.
15- year- old girl. Comey was briefed on the findings in recent days, resulting in the director’s notification to Congress, said the official who is not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The emails were discovered in a search of a device or devices used by Weiner, who is separated from longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin. It is unclear whether Abedin had access to the same device or devices.
The official said it was not likely that the FBI’s review of the additional emails could be completed by Election Day.
In a brief news conference in Iowa on Friday evening, Clinton said, “The American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately,” a position earlier outlined in a statement from her campaign chairman, John Podesta. The Democratic nominee called on the FBI “to release all the information that it has.”
"As you know I've had plenty of words about the FBI lately, but I give them great credit for having the courage to right this horrible wrong. Justice will prevail," Donald Trump said at a campaign rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Thursday night.
During a speech earlier, in New Hampshire, Trump gleefully discussed the “breaking news announcement.”
“Hillary Clinton’s corruption is on a scale we have never seen before,” Trump said, and her “criminal scheme” should not be allowed in the Oval Office.
“Perhaps justice will be done,” the GOP nominee said of the development.
In his statement, Podesta demanded that the FBI director “provide the American public more information than is contained in the letter” to lawmakers.
“We have no idea what those emails are and the director himself notes they may not even be significant. It is extraordinary that we would see something like this just 11 days out from a presidential election.”
In July, Comey announced that while Clinton and her aides during her tenure as secretary of State had been “extremely careless” in the way they’d handled classified information, he recommended that no criminal charges be filed.
Soon after, the director testified before skeptical Republican lawmakers to explain the bureau’s recommendation, which had been adopted by Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
“We’re mystified and confused by the fact pattern you laid out and the conclusion you reached,” House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R- Utah, told Comey.
Comey, however, was unequivocal in maintaining that the conclusion of investigators was not a close call.
“There is no way anybody would bring a case against John Doe or Hillary Clinton for the second time in 100 years based on those facts,” he told the House panel on July 7.
Following Comey’s announcement Friday, Republicans blasted the Democratic presidential nominee.
“Hillary Clinton has nobody but herself to blame,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. “This decision, long overdue, is the result of her reckless use of a private email server, and her refusal to be forthcoming with federal investigators,” Ryan said in a statement, adding that he was again calling for Clinton to no longer receive classified briefings, a traditional courtesy afforded major- party presidential nominees.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said the timing of the decision, so soon before the election, demonstrated “how serious this discovery must be.”
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi accused Republicans of attempting to “misrepresent” the FBI’s work.
“Sadly but predictably, Republicans are doing their best to ... warp the FBI’s work to serve their partisan conspiracy-mongering against Hillary Clinton,” Pelosi said.