The Justice Department and the FBI are in discussions with lawyers for Huma Abedin to conduct a full search of new emails discovered on her husband’s computer that turned up during another investigation, CNN reported Sunday.
Investigators believe it’s likely the newly recovered trove will include emails that were deleted from Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s server before the FBI took possession of it as part of an earlier investigation that many thought had concluded in July, CNN reported.
The FBI still has not yet sought a search warrant for the emails, law enforcement sources told CNN.
Investigators need a search warrant to permit investigators to review thousands of emails on a computer Abedin shared with her estranged husband, Anthony Weiner, officials said.
The new search warrant is needed because investigators only had the authority to probe Weiner, who is accused of having sexually explicit communications with an underage girl.
The FBI’s New York office stumbled on the Abedin emails while they were reviewing emails and other communications on the computer, which was considered to belong to Weiner, the officials told CNN.
They immediately ceased their work and called in the team of investigators from FBI headquarters who conducted the probe of Clinton’s private email server. The investigators, based in the New York field office, saw enough of the emails to determine that they appeared pertinent to the previously completed investigation and that they may be emails not previously reviewed.
Justice Department and FBI officials view Abedin as cooperative with the investigation, CNN reported.
