Court Unseals Search Warrant In Clinton Email Probe
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A federal court in New York has released redacted copies of the search warrant and other documents that gave the FBI new license to dig into a trove of Hillary Clinton emails days before the presidential election.
READ THE WARRANT (pdf)
Among the documents unsealed Tuesday was an FBI affidavit arguing there was probable cause to examine the emails found on a computer belonging to former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin. Federal agents have been investigating an online relationship between the disgraced New York congressman and a teenage girl in North Carolina.
In the affidavit, the FBI argued the thousands of emails had the potential to cause "grave damage to national security" if disclosed.
Ultimately, they contained no evidence of wrongdoing by Clinton.
U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel ruled Monday that the public had a right to see the search warrant application and supporting court paperwork, but said portions would be blacked out to protect the identity of the investigating agents.
The judge also ordered the redaction of sections of the court paperwork related to the ongoing investigation into Weiner's online correspondence.
The discovery of the emails prompted FBI Director James Comey to briefly reopen an investigation that he had closed over the summer into Clinton's use of a private computer server to handle emails she sent and received as secretary of state.
Some believe the FBI's announcement of the renewed investigation into Clinton's emails helped throw the election to rival Donald Trump, CBS2 reported.
"I've watched her battle through all the bogus email deal, be vindicated at the end," Bill Clinton said.
On Monday, the former president said the email probe was among a few things he thinks cost his wife the election.
"She fought everything, and she prevailed against it all. But then with the end, we had the Russians and the FBI deal, but she couldn't prevail against that," he said. "She did everything else. And still won by 2.8 million votes."
In a newspaper interview, the former president went on to bash Trump, saying the president-elect "doesn't know much," but he knows "how to get angry, white men to vote for him."
Trump fired back on Twitter, saying "Bill Clinton stated that I called him after the election. Wrong, he called me (with a very nice congratulations). He 'doesn't know much'... Especially how to get people, even with an unlimited budget, out to vote in the vital swing states (and more). They focused on wrong states."
Bill Clinton tweeted back, saying that the one thing he and Trump can agree on is that Clinton called Trump after the election.
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