FBI’s new email revelation could upend election

WASHINGTON Just as Hillary Clinton appeared to be cruising to Election Day with the wind at her back, the FBI rattled the presidential race Friday by announcing it is again probing emails that might be related to her private server, rekindling a politically damaging controversy for her and reinvigorating Republicans scrambling to hold on to congressional seats.

The surprise word from FBI Director James Comey came after his agency discovered new communications on a computer jointly used by close Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her estranged husband, Anthony Weiner, a former New York congressman, according to U.S. law enforcement officials.

Investigators came across the emails while separately investigating whether Weiner violated federal law when exchanging sexually explicit texts with a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina, the official said.

Comey wrote in a letter to Congress that the newly discovered messages could be relevant to questions of whether Clinton and her aides mishandled classified information while she was Secretary of State.

The emails were not to or from Clinton, and contained information that appeared to be more of what agents already had uncovered, the official said, but in an abundance of caution, they felt they needed to further scrutinize them.

Because Comey had told Congress the FBI had finished investigating Clinton's server, he felt he needed to let lawmakers know agents were again looking into the case, the official said.

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 to a rally in Cedar Rapids.

Speaking briefly to reporters after an event Friday night in Des Moines, Clinton called on Comey to release more information. She said neither she nor her campaign staff was contacted by the FBI and noted twice that the bureau communicated only with Republican congressional investigators.

'The American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately,” she said.

Clinton also expressed confidence that whatever might be in the newly discovered emails 'will not change the conclusion” Comey reached in July when he announced he would not recommend criminal charges.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, excoriated the timing.

'The FBI has a history of extreme caution near Election Day so as not to influence the results,” she said in a statement. 'Today's break from that tradition is appalling.”

Democrats were not alone in demanding Comey disclose more information or questioning such a disclosure so close to the election.

'The letter from Director Comey was unsolicited and, quite honestly, surprising,” said a statement from Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa, a Republican. 'But it's left a lot more questions than answers for both the FBI and Secretary Clinton.”

Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas asked in a tweet: 'Why is FBI doing this just 11 days before the election?”

Comey had written in his letter that he could not assess whether the new messages contained 'significant” material or 'how long it will take us to complete this additional work.” He wrote that the FBI would 'take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation.”

The review could take weeks and not be completed by Election Day.

The short note put Comey, a Republican who was appointed by President Barack Obama, back under an unwelcome spotlight.

Democrats who had praised his handling of the email investigation this year, when Comey declared he had reviewed the evidence and found it did not merit criminal charges against Clinton and her staff, are questioning his judgment.

And Republicans who accused Comey of covering up Clinton's misdeeds then were lauding his courage now.

Donald Trump said the political system 'might not be as rigged as I thought.”

He termed Clinton's actions 'the biggest political scandal since Watergate” and immediately made the issue a focal point of rallies Friday in Maine and Cedar Rapids.

Congressional GOP candidates in tight races, who have been struggling to deflect voter attention away from their uneasiness with a presidential nominee who has been a drag on the ticket, were quick to pounce.

'This decision shows exactly why we need strong watchdogs in Congress to ensure thorough oversight of the executive branch,” Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista said.

House Speaker Paul Ryan renewed his call to suspend classified briefings to the Democratic presidential nominee.

Ryan declared the FBI is reopening its investigation into Clinton's private email server, which is not what Comey wrote.

Unless the fresh FBI review leads to new evidence of wrongdoing by Clinton, it may not substantially change the contours of a presidential race in which she is polling far ahead, and at least 17 million Americans have already cast their ballots.

But it could provide a badly needed boost to congressional Republicans. Antipathy toward Clinton is the issue that most unites the party.

Reuters contributed to this report.