The White House is defending the Director of the FBI, after Democrats accused him of trying to influence the outcome of America's Presidential election.
James Comey made a surprise announcement last Friday that he was reinvigorating the investigation into Hillary Clinton's handling of classified information when she was Secretary of State.
FBI agents are beginning to sift through a previously unknown trove of e-mails in a bid to discover whether they provide any fresh information that could be used to mount a prosecution of Mrs. Clinton or her senior aides.
Our US Correspondent Simon Marks reports.
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With one week to go before election day, the American campaign trail is still crackling with the fallout from the FBI Director's announcement.
In concrete terms, FBI agents now have the warrant they need to start trawling through as many as 650 thousand e-mails found on devices owned by one of Mrs. Clinton's top aides - Huma Abedin - and her now estranged husband, the disgraced former Congressman from New York Anthony Weiner.
It was a separate FBI investigation into his online activities that suddenly surfaced e-mails that, the FBI says, could shed new light on Mrs. Clindon't handling of classified information.
She insists they won't…..beginning the last full week of campaigning in Ohio she told supporters there's nothing for FBI agents to find.
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You could hear there in Mrs. Clinton's voice her irritation at the FBI Director James Comey.
That irritation was spelled out in a letter he was sent by Harry Reid, the top Democrat in the US Senate.
Senator Reid argues that the FBI Director himself broke a law called The Hatch Act which forbids civil servants from trying to influence the outcome of the election….Mr. Reid in essence accusing Mr. Comey of intervening to try and skew the Presidential campaign Donald Trump's way.
But at the White House….Josh Ernest spokesman for Barack Obama….the man who appointed James Comey to head the FBI…rebuffed that claim.
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He is indeed….having been vilified for months by Republicans for failing to bring charges against Hillary Clinton….now he's being vilified by Democrats for keeping his investigation alive.
All of which keeps Donald Trump's hopes of winning the White House alive.
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It is not clear yet what the fallout will be for Hillary Clinton.
A fresh batch of polls will soon offer an indication of just how much the FBI's move has damaged her….or perhaps even emboldened her supporters to get out in larger numbers.
There is enormous pressure on the FBI to wrap up its investigation as soon as possible….and investigators have already started loading the new batch of e-mails into a special computer program that will help them assess the documents they've got.
But it's not clear the task will be complete by Election Day…meaning Hillary Clinton could continue to face questions about e-mail through the remaining days of this campaign and perhaps beyond.
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