FBI Chiefs, Busy With Russia Probe, Ignored Hillary Mail Investigation: Book

FBI agents had an “Oh Sh*t” moment when they discovered a large volume of private emails from Hillary Clinton on Anthony Weiner’s laptop, during an investigation. However, the mails were ignored and not investigated as FBI Chiefs were busy with the Russia probe.

The FBI was going through Weiner’s laptop after it was revealed that he had been sending inappropriate messages to a teen girl, journalist James B. Stewart claims in his new book, “Deep State: Trump, the FBI, and the Rule of Law,” which released on Tuesday.

While going through the electronic devices of Weiner, technicians from the FBI found a significant number of emails that were exchanged between Clinton and Weiner’s wife Huma Abedin on Sept.

“I encountered approximately 340,000 emails stored on the computer,” a report in the FBI records showed. The emails were pulled from servers that belonged to both Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin.

“A significant number of these 340,000 emails appeared to be between Huma Abedin and Hillary Clinton (the latter seemed to have used multiple email addresses),” the report said.

Hillary Clinton was very close to Weiner’s wife, with Clinton referring Abedin as a “second daughter.” Abedin was the vice-chair of Clinton’s campaign.

“I did not review the content of these emails, as the warrant only authorized me to view items that would give me probable cause to believe that the CP evidence may reside therein.”

The mails were sent from different domains like “hillaryclinton.com” and “state.gov.”

According to Stewart, this revelation which was like ‘dropping a bomb in the middle of the meeting’, fell through the cracks because FBI officials were already overwhelmed by the Russia probe, NY Post reported.

“I just want to formally bring this to your attention due to the pending election, the ongoing Congressional investigation into the FBI’s own investigation into Ms. Clinton’s email activities, etc.,” the report said.

A New York FBI agent tried to force his superiors to go deeper and finish the job, as he was "scared" by what he had found in the mails.

“I’m telling you that we have potentially ten times the volume that Director Comey said we had on the record,” the agent told Stewart. “Why isn’t anybody here?”

James Comey who usually presides over such meetings was busy testifying that day and the news was reported to his deputy Andrew McCabe. While McCabe relayed the news to Comey, of which he only had a hazy memory, the comments didn't sink in and Comey couldn't make a connection of it.

"Hey, Boss, I just want you to know that the criminal squad in New York has got Anthony Weiner's laptop and I think it may have some connect to Midyear," McCabe told Comey in the passing.

Any sense of urgency that was related to the case further drained away as FBI officials felt that it would take months to resolve the legal and technical issues to get access to the emails, which would go well past the elections that were to be held in 2016.

Stewart carried out scores of interviews with Justice Department and White House Officials recounting the FBI investigations of both Trump and Clinton.