the discovery of new emails related to a closed investigation of democratic candidate hillary clinton <u+2019>s email arrangement at the state department became the latest surprise to hit this unpredictable presidential campaign on friday. the disclosure immediately roiled the campaign, as republicans seized on it and democrats expressed anger at the 11th-hour revelation, made in a letter from federal bureau of investigation director james comey to congressional committee chairmen. mrs. clinton, speaking to reporters, called on mr. comey to release more information about the emails immediately. the emails were found during the search of a device in the fbi probe of former rep. anthony weiner, who is being investigated for allegedly sending sexually explicit messages to a minor, a person familiar with the case said. mr. weiner is married to huma abedin, a longtime senior aide of mrs. clinton who recently announced she and her husband were separating. mr. comey<u+2019>s letter said the fbi was now reviewing the emails in connection with its investigation of the private server mrs. clinton used when she was secretary of state, a probe that the fbi had closed this summer. he wrote that the fbi had discovered emails in an unrelated case that <u+201c>appear to be pertinent to the investigation<u+201d> into whether mrs. clinton or her aides mishandled classified information while she was serving in the state department. many of the emails were discovered on a laptop used by both ms. abedin and mr. weiner, according to people familiar with the matter. in searching the laptop, investigators found thousands of emails, and they determined earlier this week that some of the emails involved ms. abedin discussing work issues. ms. abedin was questioned earlier this year by the fbi in the clinton email probe. authorities haven<u+2019>t yet determined how many emails involved work, or if any of those included classified information, these people said. they also haven<u+2019>t determined if the work emails in question are copies of messages already reviewed by the fbi. senior fbi officials decided that sitting on what they know would be a worse course of action than notifying congress now while they undertake their investigation, these people said. on friday, mr. comey said it wasn<u+2019>t clear whether the new emails would be important to the probe. <u+201c>the fbi cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant, and i cannot predict how long it will take us to complete this additional work,<u+201d> he wrote. mr. comey recommended no charges against mrs. clinton or her aides when the investigation was closed this summer. the announcement of a renewed probe into mrs. clinton<u+2019>s handling of sensitive and classified information comes with just 11 days left in the increasingly bitter presidential contest between mrs. clinton and republican opponent donald trump. capital journal is wsj.com<u+2019>s home for election 2016 news. on friday, mrs. clinton took aim at mr. comey and said he should <u+201c>release all the information he has.<u+201d> speaking to reporters in des moines, iowa, she added, <u+201c>the american people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately.<u+201d> mrs. clinton noted that mr. comey wrote that the newly discovered emails might not be significant. she then said, <u+201c>so let<u+2019>s get it out.<u+201d> she also said she didn<u+2019>t believe the new emails would change the fbi<u+2019>s recommendation in july that no charges be brought against her. <u+201c>i<u+2019>m confident whatever they are will not change the conclusion reached in july,<u+201d> mrs. clinton said. at a rally in manchester, n.h., shortly after mr. comey<u+2019>s announcement, mr. trump said: <u+201c>i have great respect for the fact that the fbi and the department of justice are now willing to have the courage to right the horrible mistake that they made.<u+201d> the fbi is part of the justice department, and both agencies declined to comment on the announcement on friday. the department has a longstanding policy that discourages investigators or prosecutors from taking overt investigative steps shortly before a primary or general election, in order to avoid the appearance of trying to sway the outcome. the fbi made the decision to notify congress about the newly discovered emails on its own, according to people familiar with the matter. the fbi investigation into mrs. clinton was closed in early july, after an exhaustive forensic review of the private email server mrs. clinton used for all her government business. the probe also included interviews with the candidate herself and many of her staff members. <u+201c>although we did not find clear evidence that secretary clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information,<u+201d> mr. comey said in an unusual press conference at the time. mr. comey also said no reasonable prosecutor would have brought charges in the case, and that similar cases hadn<u+2019>t been brought in the past. that led to an outcry from republicans, including mr. trump, who alleged that mr. comey was doing special favors for mrs. clinton because she was running for president. mr. comey rebutted these claims, telling the house judiciary committee in september that <u+201c>you can call us wrong, but don<u+2019>t call us weasels.<u+201d> mr. comey was a bush administration appointee to the justice department and became fbi director under president barack obama. he has said recently that he isn<u+2019>t registered as either a democrat or a republican. the fbi has taken the unusual step in recent months of releasing hundreds of pages of material related to an investigation that was closed without charges, shedding new light on how and why mrs. clinton came to use an email server run from her basement for all her government work. fbi officials consider it a point of pride and professional ethics to stay above the political fray, yet the fbi now finds itself a target at the center of a high-level political firefight. democrats and republicans immediately seized on mr. comey<u+2019>s letter not only to attack each other but the director himself. democrats sharply criticized mr. comey for announcing an investigative move so close to the election. <u+201c>the fbi has a history of extreme caution near election day so as not to influence the results,<u+201d> said sen. dianne feinstein (d., calif.). <u+201c>today<u+2019>s break from that tradition is appalling.<u+201d> many republicans are still frustrated that the fbi has recommended against charging mrs. clinton, and some reiterated their belief that the probe had been bungled. <u+201c>i have serious questions about the way the fbi has handled this case up to now,<u+201d> said sen. roy blunt (r., mo.). <u+201c>the fbi needs to set a better standard as they reopen this case.<u+201d> but mr. comey<u+2019>s approach to the investigation has been unorthodox for some time, arguing that the need for transparency is critical. his july press conference was highly unusual, and he then appeared before congress to defend his recommendation against charges, while the fbi proceeded to release various documents from the probe. these earlier moves by mr. comey arguably forced friday<u+2019>s disclosure. because he had previously told lawmakers the clinton email investigation was completed, he said he felt compelled to <u+201c>update<u+201d> them on the newly discovered emails. republicans said friday<u+2019>s developments renewed the debate about mrs. clinton<u+2019>s judgment and her handling of records and secrets while serving as secretary of state between 2009 and 2013. the latest twist in the long-running clinton email saga comes at a point when at least 17 million people have already voted in the presidential race and the candidates are making their closing arguments. some political analysts said they didn<u+2019>t believe the fbi<u+2019>s announcement would change the underlying trajectory of the race, given that voters already have largely negative views about both candidates and the email matter has been front-and-center since the race began. <u+201c>the calculation that she may have poor ethics or had terrible judgment on the emails is well considered by swing voters,<u+201d> said rob stutzman, a california republican strategist who is backing neither mr. trump nor mrs. clinton. what<u+2019>s more, mr. trump seems to have a <u+201c>hard ceiling<u+201d> in terms of the support he is able to attract, mr. stutzman said. still, mr. trump and his aides were buoyed by the unexpected development that has the potential to dominate the conversation through election day. <u+201c>a great day in our campaign just got even better,<u+201d> trump campaign manager kellyanne conway tweeted shortly after the fbi<u+2019>s letter became public. for the clinton campaign, the email story is one that they have proven unable to shake. mrs. clinton<u+2019>s use of a private email system has fueled public perceptions that she is secretive in her dealings and not especially trustworthy, polls consistently show. the fbi in 2015 launched its initial investigation into mrs. clinton<u+2019>s use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state, following a referral from the intelligence community<u+2019>s inspector general. the inspector general<u+2019>s office asked the fbi to look into whether classified information was being shared on that email system. mrs. clinton left the state department in 2013 and turned over 30,000 of her emails to the state department the following year. the fbi reviewed those emails and found that 110 emails in 52 email chains contained classified information <u+201c>at the time they were sent or received.<u+201d> <u+2014>beth reinhard, damian paletta and peter nicholas contributed to this article. write to byron tau at byron.tau@wsj.com and devlin barrett at devlin.barrett@wsj.com
fbi reviewing newly discovered emails in clinton server probe - wsj
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