FBI Director James Comey said Friday in a letter to Congress that the FBI has learned of the “existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation” into Democratic presidential nominee and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s handling of sensitive material on her personal server.
The emails were discovered on electronic devices belonging to longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her husband, Anthony Weiner, a former congressman from New York, according to mulitple reports. Abedin is a top official with the Clinton campaign.
The emails did not come from Clinton’s private email server, The Associated Press reported.
The Washington Post, citing a person with knowledge of the inquiry, reported that the emails were on a computer that was used by Weiner and Abedin. Officials are investigating Weiner for allegedly sexting with a 15-year-old girl.
The news that the FBI was launching a new investigation into Clinton comes just 11 days before the Nov. 8 election and after early voting has started in many states across the country.
“In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation. I am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed me on this yesterday, and I agreed that the FBI should 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,” FBI Director James Comey wrote in a letter to members of Congress dated Oct. 28.