The FBI announced the new email inquiry Friday in a letter to Congress.
“In connection with an unrelated case the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation,” reads a letter sent from FBI Director James Comey to Congress. Comey said it’s unclear how long the review will take.
Clinton, however, said at a Friday news conference that she had no warning the FBI was looking into more emails, adding “we have not been contacted by anyone.”
“Even Director Comey noted that this new information may not be significant,” Clinton said at a news conference, “so let’s get it out.”
The FBI discovered the emails after taking control of devices owned by top Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her husband Anthony Weiner, authorities said Friday. Weiner came under NYPD — and apparently FBI — scrutiny after reportedly sexting a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina. Earlier in the year he reportedly sent texts to a woman with his young son in the photo, and Abedin announced her separation from him.
News of Weiner and Abedin’s connection to the new emails was first reported by the New York Times.
Weiner didn’t return several requests for comment by BuzzFeed News.
When asked at Friday’s news conference about the potential content of the emails, Clinton responded that “your guess is as good as mine, and I don’t think that’s good enough.”
“We don’t know the facts,” Clinton continued, “which is why we are calling on the FBI to release all the information that it has.”
According to Capitol Hill sources, it did not appear that oversight committees on the Hill were aware of the new FBI probe before the letter was received Thursday. The FBI said it did not place any restrictions on the letter it sent to Congress, and said lawmakers were free to share it if they chose to do so.
Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta issued a statement Friday saying, “FBI Director Comey should immediately provide the American public more information than is contained in the letter he sent to eight Republican committee chairmen. Already, we have seen characterizations that the FBI is ‘reopening’ an investigation but Comey’s words do not match that characterization.
“Director Comey’s letter refers to emails that have come to light in an unrelated case, but we have no idea what those emails are and the Director himself notes they may not even be significant,” Podesta added. “It is extraordinary that we would see something like this just 11 days out from a presidential election.”