Washington, Nov 6 (EFE).- FBI Director James Comey told Congress on Sunday that his determination not to prosecute former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for her handling of e-mails has not changed after reviewing newly-found e-mails on the computer of one of her aides.
The chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Utah Republican Jason Chaffetz, said on Twitter that Comey had sent a letter to Congress saying that “Based on our review, we have not changed our conclusions that we expressed in July.”
The FBI concluded in July that the fact that Clinton, while secretary of state from 2009-2013, had used a private server to transmit government e-mails, including some containing classified information, did not justify indicting the Democratic presidential nominee.
Comey’s decision comes after in late October, just two weeks before the Nov. 8 election, he decided to examine new e-mails that he said could be relevant to the case – which had been closed in July – involving Clinton’s State Department communications.
The new e-mails were found on a computer used by Clinton’s close aide Huma Abedin and shared with Abedin’s husband, disgraced former Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner, from whom she is now separated.
Weiner is being investigated by the FBI after the Daily Mail revealed that the former lawmaker had possibly exchanged inappropriate e-mails with sexual content with a minor.
Comey sparked a whirlwind of controversy when he made public his decision to examine the new e-mails without knowing whether any from Clinton were on Abedin’s computer or if they were relevant to the closed investigation.
“We were always confident nothing would cause the July decision to be revisited. Now Director Comey has confirmed it,” said Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon on Twitter.
Comey told Congress in July that Clinton’s handling of government communications on a private server was “extremely careless.”