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James Comey: Classified Hillary Clinton Emails Were Forwarded to Anthony Weiner

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FBI Director James Comey told lawmakers that Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin forwarded some of Clinton’s emails that contained classified information to her husband, disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner.

“Huma Abedin appears to have had a regular practice of forwarding emails to him, I think to print out for her, so she could then deliver them to Secretary of State,” Comey said during his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday

Comey said he doesn’t think Weiner read the classified information, but that the FBI hadn’t been able to interview him because he is embroiled in other controversies. Weiner resigned from Congress in 2011 amidst revelations that he had sent women lewd photographs of himself, a practice which continued to plague him during his failed bid for New York City Mayor in 2013. In the summer of 2016, he was again caught sending lewd photos again, with one seemingly showing that he sent it while his young son was next to him in bed. After this incident, Abedin announced she was separating from Weiner.

But on October 28 2016, Comey announced that the FBI had reopened the probe into Clinton’s private email server, saying that new emails had been found in an unrelated case, but could have potential implications relating to Clinton. The New York Times reported that decision was prompted by the emails on Weiner’s laptop, which Comey confirmed in the hearing Wednesday.

“There were thousands of Secretary Clinton’ s emails on that device, [Weiner’s laptop] including what they thought might be the missing emails from her first three months as Secretary of State,” Comey explained Wednesday. “If there was evidence she was acting of bad intent, that’s where it would be.”

Hillary Clinton has blamed Comey’s decision to reopen the email case for her loss to President Donald Trump. “If the election had been held on October 27, I would be your president,” she said at an event in New York City Tuesday.

Comey acknowledged that Weiner receiving these emails could be a crime, and that Weiner should not have had access to classified information. But he declined to say if anyone would or should be charged, despite suggestions to the contrary from lawmakers. He added that there was an investigation into both Weiner and Abedin, but the FBI completed it because they couldn’t prove any criminal intent

“For him to get it [classified information] should be a crime,” said South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham. “Somebody should be prosecuted for letting Anthony Weiner have access to classified information.”

 

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Write to Alana Abramson at Alana.Abramson@time.com