FBI obtains warrant to examine Clinton
emails
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[October 31, 2016]
By Mark Hosenball and John Whitesides
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal
investigators have secured a warrant to examine newly discovered emails
related to Hillary Clinton's private server, a source familiar with the
matter said on Sunday, as a prominent Democrat accused FBI Director
James Comey of breaking the law by trying to influence the election.
The warrant will allow the Federal Bureau of Investigation to examine
the emails to see if they are relevant to its probe of the private email
server used for government work by Clinton, the Democratic presidential
nominee, while she was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.
Comey came under heavy pressure from Democrats on Sunday to quickly
provide details of the emails, as Clinton allies worried the prolonged
controversy could extend beyond the Nov. 8 election and cast a shadow
over a Clinton transition if she wins the White House.
Comey's disclosure of the email discovery in a letter to Congress on
Friday plunged the final days of the White House race between Clinton
and Republican Donald Trump into turmoil. Clinton had opened a recent
lead over Trump in national polls, but it had been narrowing even before
the email controversy resurfaced.
The unexpected turn in the email controversy shook financial markets'
conviction of a Clinton victory in the election and the U.S. dollar
slipped against major currencies in early Asian trading on Monday.
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U.S. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid sent a letter to Comey on
Sunday suggesting he violated the Hatch Act, which bars the use of a
federal government position to influence an election.
"Through your partisan actions, you may have broken the law," Reid, a
senator from Nevada, said in the letter to Comey.
Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and campaign manager Robby Mook
questioned Comey's decision to send a letter notifying Congress of the
email review before he even knew whether they were significant or
relevant.
Comey's letter was "long on innuendo, short on facts," Podesta said on
CNN's "State of the Union" program, and accused the FBI chief of
breaking precedent by disclosing aspects of an investigation so close to
the election.
"We are calling on Mr. Comey to come forward and explain what’s at issue
here," Podesta said, adding the significance of the emails was unclear.
"He might have taken the first step of actually having looked at them
before he did this in the middle of a presidential campaign, so close to
the voting," Podesta said.
Comey's letter was sent over the objections of Justice Department
officials. But those officials did not try to stop the FBI from getting
the warrant, a source familiar with the decision said, because they are
interested in the FBI moving quickly on the probe.
Sources close to the investigation have said the latest emails were
discovered as part of a separate probe of former Democratic U.S.
Representative Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of Clinton aide
Huma Abedin.
Weiner is the target of an FBI investigation into illicit text messages
he is alleged to have sent to a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina. The
FBI already had a warrant to search Weiner's laptop in that probe, but
needed a warrant to look at the material that might be related to
Clinton.
'CHECK ON CORRUPTION'
Sources familiar with the matter said FBI agents working on the Weiner
investigation saw material on a laptop belonging to Weiner that led them
to believe it might be relevant to the investigation of Clinton's email
practices.
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Trump has highlighted the issue as proof for his argument that Clinton
is corrupt and untrustworthy.
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![](../images/103116pics/news_v42.jpg)
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton walks off the stage
at a campaign rally at the Manor Complex in Wilton Manors, Florida,
U.S. October 30, 2016. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
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"We have one ultimate check on Hillary's corruption and that is the
power of the vote," Trump told a rally in Las Vegas on Sunday. "The
only way to beat the corruption is to show up and vote by the tens
of millions."
Comey, who announced in July that the FBI's long investigation of
Clinton's emails was ending without any charges, said in his letter
the agency would review the newly surfaced emails to determine their
relevance to the investigation of her handling of classified
information.
Richard Painter, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law
School and the chief White House ethics lawyer from 2005 to 2007,
said he filed a complaint over Comey's actions with the Office of
Special Counsel, which investigates Hatch Act violations.
"We cannot allow F.B.I. or Justice Department officials to
unnecessarily publicize pending investigations concerning candidates
of either party while an election is underway. That is an abuse of
power," he said in a column in the New York Times.
But Daniel Richman, a former federal prosecutor who now teaches at
Columbia Law School, called the allegations that Comey improperly
tried to influence the election "inane."
"Comey’s critics cannot show his letter violated the Hatch Act
unless they can prove that the FBI director was intending to
influence the election rather than inform Congress, which was
Comey’s stated aim," said Richman, who said he had advised Comey on
law enforcement policy but not this issue.
An ABC News/Washington Post poll released on Sunday showed Clinton
with a statistically insignificant 1-point national lead on Trump.
About a third of likely voters in the poll said they were less
likely to back Clinton given Comey's disclosure.
Clinton, who told a Florida rally on Saturday that Comey's letter
was "deeply troubling," did not address the issue directly on Sunday
but referred vaguely to voters overcoming a "distraction."
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"There’s a lot of noise and distraction but it really comes down to
the kind of future we want and who can get us there,” she told a
packed gay nightclub in Wilton Manors, Florida, where hundreds of
supporters who could not get in lined the streets outside.
"We don’t want a president who would appoint Supreme Court justices
to overturn marriage equality,” she said.
(Additional reporting by Joel Schectman, Timothy Gardner, Alana Wise
and Julia Harte in Washington, Steve Holland in Las Vegas and
Roberta Rampton in Florida; Editing by Mary Milliken and Peter
Cooney)
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