Still No Warrant For FBI To Investigate New Clinton Emails Found During Anthony Weiner’s Sexting Investigation
After the letter from James Comey to lawmakers had become public on Friday, Hilary Clinton realized that she may not be out of the woods just yet for the allegations against her for improperly handling classified information. While the FBI is seeking approval to investigate newly discovered emails said to be pertinent to Hilary’s case, they have not yet received a warrant to do so, Yahoo reports.
When an investigation was being led against ex-rep Anthony Weiner, who allegedly was sexting a 15-year-old, emails were found on his laptop that could potentially hurt Hilary Clinton’s presidential election. As of right now, FBI has not been able to review the emails found on the laptop of Hilary’s top aide’s estranged husband, but they are seeking a warrant to be able to do so, a senior law enforcement official said.
“We do not have a warrant. Discussions are under way between the FBI and the Justice Department as to the best way to move forward.”
As of Saturday night, Comey and the FBI officials were still unaware of what the emails contained, and whether or not the emails contained classified information.
It was suggested by the Republican party that the emails must be a big deal, or Comey wouldn’t have brought it up before election day. However, according to Comey, he felt it necessary to mention it now to avoid being accused of withholding information until after the Presidential election.
The senators wrote that they were unsure who is in possession of the emails, or whether they are related to Clinton’s previous investigation.
“It is not clear whether the emails identified by the FBI are even in the custody of the FBI, whether any of the emails have already been reviewed, whether Secretary Clinton sent or received them, or whether they even have any significance to the FBI’s previous investigation.”
The FBI found what was said to be thousands of Abedin’s emails on Anthony Weiner’s laptop, which could potentially be emails that Clinton deleted and were not included in the first initial investigation.
Source: FBI saw itself in lose-lose situation with Clinton email discovery https://t.co/cqsQxZqUOY pic.twitter.com/oy1Wpf4q2Y
— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 30, 2016
Comey further stated that he felt obligated to inform Congress about the newly discovered emails since he previously testified that the investigation was complete.
“Given that we don’t know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails, I don’t want to create a misleading impression.”
A review of Abedin’s interview with FBI agents last April showed that the top Clinton aide did make hints that there may be information relevant to the case on Weiner’s laptop, but the FBI did not follow-up on those clues.
Abedin, Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, did disclose four emails that she had access to while working with the Secretary of State. She had access to an official State Department email account, a personal Yahoo account, and a private email account on Clinton’s server, which was used to communicate with Clinton and the other top aides.
Abedin admitted that she regularly forwarded State Department emails using her other two accounts to be able to print documents easier. Abedin further stated that she had a separate email account, which was used “to support her husband’s political activities.”
Joseph DiGenova stated that the failure to follow up on Abedin’s clues shows that the original investigation was not thorough, and considered it “fatally flawed.” Further, he mentioned that the FBI should have immediately taken possession of Abedin’s accounts and devices, including those of Weiner’s.
Abedin’s statement regarding the use of personal accounts to transfer classified information changed somewhat during testimony. Abedin claimed that she rarely used the Yahoo account, but when she did was to simply forward “press clips” from the State Department account so that she could print them.
@cbsnews battleground polls: 71% say Clinton email news won't change their thinking, or that they've already voted https://t.co/gpmFwJFGuI
— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) October 30, 2016
While this new information was thought to cause a stir with Hilary supporters, the Washington Post has revealed that just one-third of voters say that they are not as likely to support her. The remaining two-thirds say that their decision has not been changed and will still support Hilary.
[Featured Image by Charles Dharapak/AP Images]
