A new report says FBI Director James Comey misspoke last week when he said Hillary Clinton adviser Huma Abedin forwarded «hundreds and thousands» of Clinton’s emails to her husband Anthony Weiner — likely for him to print out for her.
Instead, the report by ProPublica said she forwarded “only a handful” of those emails to Weiner, and that the thousands of emails found on his laptop were “likely” as a “result of backups of her Blackberry.”
ProPublica cited “two sources familiar with the matter, ” including one in “law enforcement.” It also said “other officials” speculated the reason was due to backing up her Blackberry to Weiner’s laptop.
According to the report, the FBI is now trying to figure out how to correct Comey’s statement that Abedin had forwarded that many emails to Weiner, and as a “regular practice.”
The FBI has not confirmed the reports.
The report stated that it was “not clear” whether any of the “handful” of emails Abedin did forward contained classified information, but a subsequent report by the Washington Post said they did contain classified information.
“None of the forwarded emails were marked classified, but a small number — a handful, one person said — contained information that was later judged to contain classified information, ” the Post reported.
It is not specified in either report how much a “handful” is. And neither report would change the fact that FBI investigators had found metadata on his laptop that showed there were “thousands” of Clinton’s emails on the device.
Comey explained that FBI investigators believed that the emails could include the 30,000 missing from Clinton’s first three months in office, which they hoped would provide a clue to Clinton’s intent in setting up a private email server in her home to conduct official business.
Comey said after that, he agreed to seek a warrant to allow those emails to be reviewed, and felt compelled to announce to Congress the investigation had reopened, after telling members repeatedly that it had closed earlier that year.
Clinton has blamed that announcement, which came less than two weeks before the election, partially for her presidential campaign loss.
Comey said investigators did find “new stuff, ” but nothing that changed their conclusion that they had no evidence to prove there was criminal intent.
After Comey’s comments, Republican senators have questioned why Abedin or Weiner have not been charged for mishandling classified information.
Abedin said on October 28 that she had no idea how her emails got on Weiner’s laptop, and that she had no idea they were there.
