The news report I saw tonight on the PBS News Hour went into some detail about this.
Based on this, first, I don't believe the FBI formally notified Hillary Clinton they were reopening the investigation of her use of a personal email server. I'm not sure the FBI (or any law enforcement agency) is under any legal obligation to notify the target of an investigation about their investigation being reopened. Hillary Clinton was campaigning in Iowa today and the news media seemed to know about the new emails and the reopened FBI investigation before she did.
Second. the FBI told a Wall Street Journal reporter (he was interviewed on the News Hour) that while investigating former congressman Weiner allegedly sexting an under age girl, they seized or were given access to a laptop belonging to his ex-wife, Huma Abedin, a Clinton staffer who worked at the State Department as Hillary Clinton's deputy chief of staff. They discovered there were "several thousand work-related" emails to and from Hillary Clinton while she was Secretary of State. The FBI is now going through these emails to see if there are any containing mishandled classified material.
Third, the FBI has apparently had the laptop for a while but just recently realized it contained emails between Abedin and then Secretary Clinton.
Fourth, questions have been raised as to the timing of the FBI announcement. The Wall Street Journal reporter was told, possibly off-the-record, that the Bureau did consider holding back the information until after the election. But decided if they were to be criticized it would better to be criticized for announcing the reopened investigation before the election than wait until after the election and be accused of holding back the information to try and protect Clinton.
Finally, journalists and others who have extensively interviewed voters of both parties seemed to agree, the effect of the disclosure on Clinton's campaign will be negligible, that voters have pretty much made up their minds by this point.
Second. the FBI told a Wall Street Journal reporter (he was interviewed on the News Hour) that while investigating former congressman Weiner allegedly sexting an under age girl, they seized or were given access to a laptop belonging to his ex-wife, Huma Abedin, a Clinton staffer who worked at the State Department as Hillary Clinton's deputy chief of staff. They discovered there were "several thousand work-related" emails to and from Hillary Clinton while she was Secretary of State. The FBI is now going through these emails to see if there are any containing mishandled classified material.
To all:
This morning I sent a letter to Congress in connection with the Secretary Clinton email investigation. Yesterday, the investigative team briefed me on their recommendation with respect to seeking access to emails that have recently been found in an unrelated case. Because those emails appear to be pertinent to our investigation, I agreed that we should take appropriate steps to obtain and review them.
Of course, we don’t ordinarily tell Congress about ongoing investigations, but here I feel an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed. I also think it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record. At the same time, however, given that we don’t know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails, I don’t want to create a misleading impression. In trying to strike that balance, in a brief letter and in the middle of an election season, there is significant risk of being misunderstood, but I wanted you to hear directly from me about it.
Jim Comey
Second. the FBI told a Wall Street Journal reporter (he was interviewed on the News Hour) that while investigating former congressman Weiner allegedly sexting an under age girl, they seized or were given access to a laptop belonging to his ex-wife, Huma Abedin, a Clinton staffer who worked at the State Department as Hillary Clinton's deputy chief of staff. They discovered there were "several thousand work-related" emails to and from Hillary Clinton while she was Secretary of State. The FBI is now going through these emails to see if there are any containing mishandled classified material.
I think it was more of a CYA move than one which considered the implications of his actions on the election. Perhaps he sees his days as director numbered and he no longer gives a rip about precedent.... Comey seems to be in a damned if he does, damned if he doesn't situation. Look like he's covering something up, or look like he's bent on publicizing information unrelated to the Weiner case. ...
The*emails were not to or from Clinton, and contained information that appeared to be more of what agents had already uncovered, the official said, but in an abundance of caution, they felt they needed to further scrutinize them.
Finally a wiener brings down a Clinton
I'll wait and see on this one. It would be odd if Huma had thousands of emails and none were to or from Hillary.
And now we'll see if there's a Great Huge Hillary Machine. If there is, there will be another Trump bombshell within 48 hours.
I'll wait and see on this one. It would be odd if Huma had thousands of emails and none were to or from Hillary.
News of Comey’s letter sent the stock market falling and Republican candidates rewriting their stump speeches. The Clinton campaign was caught off guard, as the letter emerged while the candidate and her entourage, including Abedin, were flying on a campaign plane with no working Wi-Fi en route to a rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.