Newly uncovered emails that forced the FBI to reopen its investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email use were reportedly found when federal officials seized devices from longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her husband Anthony Weiner.
The New York Times reported the development on Friday, after FBI Director James Comey informed Congress that the bureau had discovered new emails related to the investigation into Clinton's email use as secretary of state.
Federal and local law enforcement officials have been investigating Anthony Weiner since last month over reports that he sent sexually explicit text messages and photos to a 15-year-old girl, which was first revealed by the Daily Mail.
News surfaced Friday afternoon that the FBI would revisit its investigation into Clinton's email practices.
"In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation," Comey wrote in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee. "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."
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R., Utah), who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, also said that Comey had informed him that the bureau had reopened the case.
The FBI began investigating Clinton's use of a private email server last year, after the intelligence community determined that emails on her system contained top secret information.
The FBI said in July that it discovered more than 100 messages that contained classified information when they were sent or received on Clinton's unsecured email, faulting the former secretary of state and her aides for being "extremely careless" in their handling of sensitive information. However, Comey did not recommend charges be pursued in the case.
The email issue has created problems for Clinton's presidential campaign, with critics arguing that she put national security at risk by using personal email to conduct official government business.