(CNN) Hillary Clinton on Saturday questioned FBI Director James Comey's decision to write to congressional leaders about emails uncovered in the bureau's probe into Anthony Weiner, saying the timing of such a move was "unprecedented" and "deeply troubling." 
 
 "It's pretty strange to put something like that out with such little information right before an election," Clinton told supporters in Daytona Beach, Florida, where the crowd booed at the mention of Comey's letter. "In fact, it's not just strange, it's unprecedented and it's deeply troubling because voters deserve to get full and complete facts." 
 
 Clinton called on Comey to swiftly release more information, saying he must "explain everything right away, put it all right on the table." 
 
 Clinton also swiped at Republican rival Donald Trump, saying he's "doing his best to confuse, mislead and discourage the American people" over the issue. 
 
 "Of course, Donald Trump is already making up lies about this," Clinton said. 
 
 The Democratic nominee's comments here marked an escalation in the Clinton campaign's full-out war against Comey in the final 10 days of the election. 
 
 Earlier in the day, just hours after Comey made the stunning announcement on Friday that the FBI is examining newly unveiled emails that appear to be "pertinent" to the now-closed investigation into Clinton's private server, top campaign officials unleashed a blistering attack on the FBI director, accusing him of being irresponsibly "light on facts" and "heavy on innuendo." 
 
 On a conference call with reporters, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta accused Comey of failing to be "forthcoming with the facts." Podesta blasted both the timing and contents of the letter Comey sent to congressional leaders on Friday, summing the director's actions as "providing selective information." 
 
 Campaign manager Robby Mook echoed Podesta's call for more information from Comey and suggested that the FBI has now waded into political territory. 
 
 "The Justice Department's longstanding practice is: Don't do anything seen as trying to influence an election," Mook said. "It's completely unfair to Secretary Clinton and it's really unfair to the voters." 
 
 'Hillary's not going to be distracted' 
 
 The sharp criticism marked an extraordinary rebuke of the head of an agency historically known for its political independence. And it guarantees that Comey -- already a polarizing presence for his role in probing Clinton's email use as secretary of state -- will be a central political figure in the election's final days. 
 
 As Clinton prepared to fly to Florida for a two-day swing through the battleground state, Podesta was defiant: "We're not going to be distracted and Hillary's not going to be distracted in the final days of this election over nothing." 
 
 Both Podesta and Mook emphasized the possibility that the emails that the FBI is now examining -- uncovered as part of the bureau's investigation into Clinton aide Huma Abedin's estranged husband, Anthony Weiner -- may not reveal new information. 
 
 "Reports indicate that many of these emails are likely to be duplicates," Podesta said. "It's in fact entirely possible all the emails in question are just that -- duplicates." 
 
 Donald Trump continued to trumpet the news at a campaign stop in Golden, Colorado, Saturday afternoon, wondering if Clinton would keep Abedin as an adviser. 
 
 "Huma's been a problem," Trump said. "I wonder if Huma's going to stay there. I hope they haven't given Huma immunity because it seemed that everybody that walked down the sidewalk got immunity. She knows the real story. She knows what's going on." 
 
 Abedin, one of Clinton's closest confidantes, regularly travels with Clinton and was with the candidate on Friday when the FBI news broke. However, Abedin was notably absent on Saturday as Clinton traveled to Florida. 
 
 Comey was sworn in as FBI director in 2013 for a 10-year term. That means if Clinton were to win in November, Comey would serve under her administration unless she chose to remove him. 
 
 A Clinton aide later said Saturday that Clinton took the FBI news "like a champ." The aide added that Clinton and her top aides were well aware that the last two weeks of the campaign would not be entirely smooth and that Clinton's reaction reflected that. 
 
 "She is in a good state of mind," the aide added. 
 
 Sudden turn 
 
 The new attacks on Comey are a sudden turn for Clinton's campaign, which sang the FBI director's praises for his initial findings in the Clinton email case. 
 
 Clinton aides, in conversations with reporters and in statements, highlighted the fact that Comey was a Republican known for his fierce independence, touting him -- and his investigators -- as career professionals. Surrogates were told to highlight Comey's testimony to Congress and note his political affiliation and track record. 
 
 In an interview on CNN's "Situation Room" in July, Clinton press secretary Brian Fallon went after Republicans for criticizing Comey after the FBI concluded it would not press criminal charges against Clinton. 
 
 "It seems they were disappointed with the outcome of the FBI investigation so they decided to put the director in a hot seat and second-guess his decision," Fallon said at the time. "I think it is a bad look for House Republicans to be second-guessing a career prosecutor who is a registered Republican, No. 2 official at the Justice Department under George Bush and was even deputy council on the committee investigating the Clintons in the 1990s." 
 
 On Sunday, Fallon said the issues that the Clinton campaign is now raising are different from attempts by Republicans to smear the bureau as "corrupt" and "engaging in a nonexistent conspiracy." 
 
 "We are taking issue with a decision to publicly surface FBI activities on the eve of an election, which is an undisputed violation of protocol that both the current Attorney General and Republicans like George Terwilliger have acknowledged," Fallon said. 
 
 Nevertheless, the Clinton campaign now finds itself voicing similar concerns as some Republicans when it comes to the FBI's handling of emails uncovered in its Weiner investigation. 
 
 Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, an outspoken Trump supporter, wrote on Twitter Saturday: "If there are really more than 10,000 emails in the weiner-Abedin computer the FBI should release all Monday. Americans have a right to know," he wrote. 
 
 Gingrich added: "We should not be forced to vote with ten thousand or more emails still hidden by the FBI. John Podesta and Hillary Clinton are right." ||||| The president sympathized with new voters who hear all the “noise” about Clinton from Republicans and reiterated his confidence in Hillary Clinton. | AP Photo Obama criticizes FBI's Comey on Clinton email probe 'When there are investigations, we don’t operate on innuendo. We don’t operate on incomplete information. We don’t operate on leaks,' the president said. 
 
 President Barack Obama is questioning the wisdom of FBI Director James Comey’s vague announcement that the agency is reviewing new evidence in its probe into Hillary Clinton's email practices, saying investigations shouldn't “operate on innuendo.” 
 
 In an interview with NowThis released Wednesday morning, Obama did not call out Comey by name but vented his frustration that the FBI director dropped a bombshell 11 days before the presidential election, a move that has produced a flurry of anonymously sourced stories about how potentially damaging the new evidence might be. 
 
 Story Continued Below 
 
 “Setting aside the particulars of this case,” Obama said of Clinton, “I know that she is somebody who has always looked out for the interest of America and the American people first. And I do think that there is a norm that, you know, when there are investigations, we don’t operate on innuendo. We don’t operate on incomplete information. We don’t operate on leaks. We operate based on concrete decisions that are made.” 
 
 Obama said he “made a very deliberate effort to make sure that I don’t look like I’m meddling in what are supposed to be independent processes for making these assessments.” Even so, the president seemingly rebuked the FBI chief’s decision to release the cryptic, cursory letter so close to Election Day. 
 
 He also said there’s no fire to all the smoke. In July, after its yearlong investigation, Obama continued, “the conclusion of the FBI, the conclusion of the Justice Department, the conclusion of repeated congressional investigations was that, you know, she had made some mistakes but that there wasn’t anything there that was, you know, prosecutable.” 
 
 Congressional investigations, however, did not come to such a firm conclusion, and some are ongoing. 
 
 The president’s assessment was backed up by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who said Comey had “made a mistake” by going public with the bureau’s investigation of additional evidence relating to the private email server Clinton operated as secretary of state. That Comey felt compelled to disclose the FBI’s additional review but has been tight-lipped on the existence of any other election-related investigation shows that he is operating under a double standard, Pelosi said. 
 
 “I am an admirer of Comey in terms of what he has done in the past. I think he made a mistake on this, and he clearly has a double standard when it comes to Donald Trump,” Pelosi said in an interview Wednesday on CNN. “When it came to the hacking by the Russians, that the highest confidence of our intelligence community says the Russians did this, I know it privately, because of being hacked by the Russians, and he says, ‘Well, it’'s too close to the election to talk about that.’ And yet it’s not too close to the election to talk about the emails that he says may not be significant.” 
 
 Pressed repeatedly Wednesday by reporters on Air Force One about whether the president had departed from the White House’s official refusal to neither “criticize nor defend” the director’s behavior, spokesman Eric Schultz insisted the president was speaking only generally and reiterated that White House officials do not have the “luxury” of weighing in. 
 
 Reporters asked Schultz whom, exactly, the president was referring to when he said, “We don’t operate on innuendo.” 
 
 Schultz responded: “He was referring to the idea that in the course of a law enforcement investigation, if facts and materials are released before that investigation comes to a conclusion, or in the middle of it, then that could lead to public speculation and innuendo. And the president believes that generally speaking, that that doesn’t serve our interest.” 
 
 Comey informed lawmakers last Friday that more information had been uncovered in the probe but declined to provide details on the evidence or a timetable for when the new review may be resolved. Anonymous law enforcement sources later told reporters that investigators found new messages to and from Clinton’s private email server on a laptop used by Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin. Weiner is under investigation for allegedly exchanging sexually explicit texts with an underage girl. 
 
 The FBI director’s revelation sent shock waves through the presidential campaign, a final October surprise to cap a month that was already full of them. Comey’s announcement shook Clinton’s campaign from its apparent glide path to the White House and forced the former secretary of state to again defend herself against allegations that had seemingly been put to rest over the summer. And it handed momentum to Donald Trump, already on the offensive with the daily release of hacked Clinton campaign emails and news that Obamacare premiums are set to spike next year, allowing the Manhattan billionaire to once again hammer his opponent as corrupt. 
 
 But while news that the FBI is once again examining Clinton’s email practices has shifted campaign talking points, there is less evidence that it has moved the needle among American voters. Although the race has generally tightened in recent days, Trump had begun closing the gap before Comey’s announcement Friday, and polls conducted afterward do not seem to show an acceleration in the Manhattan billionaire’s resurgence. 
 
 In the immediate aftermath of Comey’s disclosure, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) wrote in a letter to the FBI director that his disclosure may have violated the Hatch Act, a law prohibiting many executive branch officials from interfering in elections. Adding to that criticism, the Clinton campaign itself questioned the timing of the FBI’s release of records this week on a 15-year-old investigation into former President Bill Clinton's pardon of the late fugitive financier Marc Rich. The Democratic nominee’s press secretary, Brian Fallon, wrote on Twitter that “Absent a FOIA litigation deadline, this is odd. Will FBI be posting docs on Trump’s housing discrimination in ’70s?” 
 
 But the FBI and the DOJ have also been criticized from the right for meddling with the election. Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik, who is now the Justice Department official in charge of keeping Congress informed about the review of additional email-related evidence, allegedly warned Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta in May 2015 that lawmakers could raise the long-running scandal during a hearing. That heads-up, which appeared in one of Podesta’s hacked emails released by WikiLeaks, appeared to have been public information at the time, but still leaves the FBI open to questions about Kadzik and the Hatch Act. 
 
 Obama, in the interview that aired Wednesday, also expressed full confidence in Clinton. 
 
 “Obviously, it’s become a political controversy,” he said of Comey's letter. “You know, the fact of the matter is, is that Hillary Clinton, having been in the arena for 30 years, oftentimes gets knocked around and people say crazy stuff about her and when she makes a mistake, an honest mistake, it ends up being blown up as if it’s just some crazy thing.” 
 
 The president sympathized with new voters who hear all the “noise” about Clinton from Republicans and worry about whether they should cast their ballots for her. But he unequivocally supported Clinton to succeed him in the White House. 
 
 “I just want everybody who’s watching to know that Hillary Clinton not only is going to make a great president and not only is she willing to work on the issues that your viewers care about most, but I trust her, I know her and, you know, I wouldn’t be supporting her if I didn’t have absolute confidence in her integrity and her interest in making sure that young people have a better future,” he said. ||||| The surprise tweet from a little-used FBI account came about 1 p.m. Tuesday, announcing that the agency had published on its website 129 pages of internal documents related to a years-old investigation into former president Bill Clinton’s pardon of a fugitive Democratic donor. 
 
 The seemingly random reminder of one of the darkest chapters of the Clinton presidency a week before the election drew an immediate rebuke from Hillary Clinton’s campaign — with its spokesman tweeting that the FBI’s move was “odd” and asking whether the agency planned to publish unflattering records about Republican candidate Donald Trump. 
 
 “Will FBI be posting docs on Trump’s housing discrimination in ’70s?” asked Brian Fallon. 
 
 For the second time in five days, the FBI had moved exactly to the place the nation’s chief law enforcement agency usually strives to avoid: smack in the middle of partisan fighting over a national election, just days before the vote. 
 
 The publication of the files related to the Marc Rich pardon inquiry, which agency officials said was posted automatically in response to pending public records requests, came as the Clinton campaign and Democratic lawmakers continued to fume over FBI Director James B. Comey’s decision with less than two weeks before the election to announce that he was effectively resuming a review of Hillary Clinton’s email practices. 
 
 The Post’s Matt Zapotosky explains why FBI Director James B. Comey has found himself at the center of the presidential campaign in recent days. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post) 
 
 Comey’s move to direct agents to suddenly review thousands of emails discovered as part of a separate inquiry into former congressman Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) has led to a range of criticism of the FBI, with Democrats and some Republican lawmakers questioning whether Comey violated Justice Department policies by making a decision that risked shaking up a political campaign. 
 
 [Comey faces a firestorm of criticism over renewed Clinton email probe] 
 
 Some Democrats have also accused Comey of hypocrisy, citing reports this week that the director argued internally last month that it was too close to Election Day to publicly accuse Russia of meddling in the race. Top intelligence officials issued a rare statement implicating Russia in hacks of Democratic officials and party offices, but Clinton and aides have gone further, alleging that Russian President Vladi­mir Putin is trying to tilt the race in Trump’s favor. 
 
 All told, the events of the past week have dragged the FBI, a highly regarded institution whose leaders have in recent years worked to build a reputation for impartiality, into the thicket of the polarized presidential race. 
 
 “Americans now look at the FBI and see a political entity, not a nonpartisan entity — and that has huge ramifications for the FBI and for all of us,” said Matt Miller, former chief spokesman for the Justice Department and a Clinton supporter. “It sows disbelief in our system of government and is hugely toxic.” 
 
 On Tuesday, FBI investigators were continuing to examine the newly discovered emails and trying to discern how they ended up on a computer owned by Weiner. As of Tuesday morning, an official said, investigators had found no sign that the computer contained “new and bigger” evidence about Clinton. But the official said the FBI was deploying “all computers, all hands on deck” to sort through the high volume of emails and that “no one knows” what the emails contain. 
 
 FBI officials did not respond to questions about the agency’s role in the campaign. 
 
 At a rally in at Kent State University, Oct. 31, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton spoke about the FBI investigation into emails that might be connected to her private email server. She said "by all means, they should look at" emails on a computer owned by Anthony Weiner, the husband of her top aide, Huma Abedin. (The Washington Post) 
 
 As for the release of the Rich files days before the election, FBI officials said the timing was coincidental. The FBI released a statement saying that they were published after Freedom of Information Act requests and were posted “automatically and electronically to the FBI’s public reading room in accordance with the law and established procedures.” This happens, the statement said, on a “first-in, first-out” basis. 
 
 The events of the past week have created an unusual political storm around Comey, who until this election year had generally drawn praise from leaders of both parties. When he announced in July that he believed that “no reasonable prosecutor” would charge Clinton for mishandling classified information through her use of a private email server, Democrats called him fair-minded while some Republicans, including Trump, accused him of being part of a rigged system. This week, the roles have been reversed. 
 
 Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), who led the House investigation of the attacks on the U.S. diplomatic posts in Benghazi, Libya, said Tuesday that Democrats are improperly blaming Comey for a sequence of events that began with Clinton’s decision as secretary of state to use a private server. “Secretary Clinton is the reason why you and I are having this conversation, not Jim Comey,” he told CNN. 
 
 The Twitter account used to publicize the Rich files, an official FBI account called­@FBIRecordsVault, had been dormant for more than a year until Sunday, when it began to tweet links to archived documents. They included records related to Fred Trump, the father of the GOP nominee, which were posted to the website in early October. Those records included eight­ ­pages of largely biographical details about the elder Trump, much of which appeared to be compiled by the FBI in 1988. The agency advertised the Trump records by tweeting: “Fred C. Trump (1905-1999) was a real estate developer and philanthropist.” 
 
 Another tweet linked to previously released internal investigative notes from the FBI’s probe of Clinton’s private email server. 
 
 Agency officials said the tweets were automatically generated, a function of the website that they said had not been working since last year but that was recently fixed when the site was upgraded. 
 
 The Rich documents provided little new information about the matter, which plagued the first years of Bill Clinton’s post-presidency. But they served as a reminder of the vigor of the criminal probe into the matter. 
 
 Rich, who received his pardon on Bill Clinton’s last day in the White House, had fled to Switzerland after learning he would be indicted on a charge of tax evasion in the 1980s. The investigation, conducted between 2001 and 2005, was disclosed in news accounts at the time and looked at whether Clinton had issued the pardon in exchange for political donations, including to Hillary Clinton’s 2000 Senate race and to the Clinton Foundation. It was closed with no charges. 
 
 The newly disclosed documents show the FBI internally referred to the matter as a “sensitive investigation concerning possible public corruption surrounding the pardons granted by former president William Clinton.” 
 
 This week’s release of the Rich files demonstrates how many of the players in the current Hillary Clinton drama played roles in Clinton-related battles of the past. 
 
 Comey, for instance, as a young prosecutor in New York, helped lead the case against Rich. Later, as U.S. attorney, he led the office that handled the investigation into the Clinton pardon from early 2002 to the end of 2003. 
 
 Former attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr., a Clinton backer who this week wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that Comey made a “serious error” in announcing the resumption of the email probe, was deputy attorney general at the time of the pardon and acknowledged that he had been contacted directly by Rich’s attorney. The pardon was criticized in part for bypassing an established process in which Justice Department lawyers review applications for merit. Holder’s name was one of only a few not blacked out in the redacted files released this week. 
 
 Comey eventually supported Holder’s nomination for attorney general but told senators in 2008 that he had been “stunned” by the Rich pardon and that Holder’s actions in the case reflected a “huge misjudgment.” 
 
 The release of the Rich files came as Democrats had been expressing their anger over Comey’s handling of their suspicions of Russian meddling. For months, Democrats have been talking about alleged ties that Trump and his team have to Russia, and they have been encouraging the FBI to investigate the claims — in addition to the ongoing inquiry into how Russian hackers broke in to the Democratic National Committee and the private email accounts of top party officials. 
 
 On Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said Comey possessed “explosive information about close ties and coordination between Donald Trump, his top advisers, and the Russian government.” In a letter to Comey, Reid suggested that the FBI director may have violated a federal statute, the Hatch Act, that prohibits government officials from engaging in activities that can influence an election. 
 
 “Through your partisan actions, you may have broken the law,” Reid wrote. 
 
 [Harry Reid says Comey ‘may have broken the law’ by disclosing new Clinton-related emails] 
 
 When asked about Reid’s letter, a White House spokesman bluntly declined to back up his claims and concerns. 
 
 Press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters that the Obama administration would “neither defend nor criticize” Comey, and that the White House had received no FBI briefings “on even the existence of any investigation into the activities or habits of the Republican nominee.” 
 
 Reid was briefed privately in August about the Russia threat by one of the country’s top intelligence officials and came away “deeply shaken,” according to an aide who was traveling with him at the time. During the private session, conducted in a specially secured briefing room at the FBI’s Las Vegas office, Reid told aides he received disturbing details of Russian efforts to influence the election — and about possible Trump campaign ties to the Kremlin. 
 
 Afterward, he wrote Comey urging the FBI director to publicly investigate “a series of disturbing reports” indicating that Russia was trying “to influence the Trump campaign and manipulate it as a vehicle for advancing the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin.” 
 
 Trump, who has called Putin a “strong leader,” has denied any connections to Russia. 
 
 But the FBI’s approach to the questions has frustrated Democrats. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (Md.), the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said Comey’s decision to speak out on the Clinton emails while choosing to remain silent on Russia “raises serious questions about a very disturbing double standard.” 
 
 Clinton campaign manager, Robby Mook, said it was “nothing short of jaw-dropping” that Comey would “show more discretion in a matter concerning a foreign-state actor than one involving the Democratic nominee for president.” 
 
 Matt Zapotosky, Karoun Demirjian, Alice Crites, Ellen Nakashima and Bob Woodward contributed to this report. 
 
 Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly reported that Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. had said that FBI Director James B. Comey made a “serious error” by resuming the Hillary Clinton email probe. In fact, Holder wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that Comey made a “serious error” by commenting publicly on the resumption of the probe in a vague letter to Congress. ||||| (CNN) Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates disagreed with FBI Director James Comey's decision to notify Congress about his bureau's review of emails potentially related to Hillary Clinton's personal server, law enforcement officials familiar with the discussion said. 
 
 There was no direct confrontation between Lynch or Yates and Comey. Instead, the disagreements were conveyed to Comey by Justice Department staff, who advised the FBI chief his letter would be against department policy to not comment on investigations close to an election, the officials said. 
 
 They added it was contrary to department policies and procedures, one law enforcement source said. 
 
 Comey decided to disregard their concerns and sent the letter Friday anyway, shaking the presidential race 11 days before the election and nearly four months after the FBI chief said he wouldn't recommend criminal charges over the Democratic nominee's use of the server. 
 
 The officials acknowledged there was little Lynch and Yates could do given the fallout over Lynch's controversial meeting over the summer with former President Bill Clinton. 
 
 Lynch and Yates objected after Comey gave advance notice to top officials at the Justice Department before sending the letter to lawmakers, law enforcement officials briefed on the matter said. Justice officials didn't sign off on Comey's decision and he didn't seek their approval, one official said. 
 
 Instead, he made an independent decision to go against longstanding Justice Department and FBI practice to not comment publicly about politically sensitive investigations within 60 days of an election, the official said. 
 
 Comey later explained his decision to provide Congress with the information in a letter to FBI employees. 
 
 "We don't ordinarily tell Congress about ongoing investigations, but here I feel an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed," Comey said. "I also think it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record." 
 
 FBI Director James Comey's letter to employees. 
 
 Clinton's campaign and allies quickly decried the decision's timing, and the candidate herself on Friday forcefully called on the FBI to release the "full and complete facts" about its review. 
 
 "Voting is underway, so the American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately," Clinton said at a brief news conference in Des Moines, Iowa, adding it was "imperative that the bureau explain this issue in question, whatever it is, without any delay." 
 
 Clinton said she was "confident whatever (the emails) are will not change the conclusion reached in July," when Comey said he wouldn't recommend criminal charges in the matter. 
 
 Republican nominee Donald Trump, who has spent the past several weeks on defense, seized on the issue. 
 
 "Hillary Clinton's corruption is on a scale we've never seen before," Trump said at a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire. "We must not let her take her criminal scheme into the Oval Office." 
 
 He later responded to Clinton's statement, saying she "tried to politicize the investigation by attacking and falsely accusing the FBI director of only sending the letter to Republicans." 
 
 In a letter to eight congressional committee chairmen Friday, Comey said investigators are examining newly discovered emails that "appear to be pertinent" to the email probe. 
 
 "In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear pertinent to the investigation," Comey wrote the chairmen. "I am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed me on this yesterday, and 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." 
 
 Anthony Weiner 
 
 The newly discovered emails are part of an investigation into Anthony Weiner, according to law enforcement sources. Weiner, the disgraced former congressman, recently separated from top Clinton aide Huma Abedin after a sexting incident. 
 
 The FBI and the New York Police Department have opened preliminary investigations of allegations that Weiner, a former New York Democratic congressman, exchanged sexually explicit text messages with a purportedly underage girl. 
 
 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career Huma Abedin, longtime aide to former U.S. Secretary of State and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, arrives to speak to the House Select Committee on Benghazi on Capitol Hill in Washington on Friday, October 16. Hide Caption 1 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career Abedin watches as Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton speaks during the David N. Dinkins Leadership and Public Policy Forum at Columbia University on April 29 in New York City. Hide Caption 2 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career Abedin (right) looks on during a news conference following Clinton's keynote speech at a Women's Empowerment Event at the United Nations on March 10. Hide Caption 3 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career (Left to right) Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, their daughter Chelsea Clinton and Abedin leave the official memorial service for former South African President Nelson Mandela at FNB Stadium December 10, 2013 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Hide Caption 4 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career Abedin stands with her husband, Anthony Weiner, during a news conference on July 23, 2013 as he addressed new allegations that he engaged in lewd online conversations with a woman after he resigned from Congress for similar previous incidents. Weiner was running for mayor of New York City at the time. Hide Caption 5 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career In this photo illustration, Weiner (left) appears with Abedin in a YouTube video announcing he will enter the New York City mayoral race on May 22, 2013. Weiner resigned from Congress in 2011 after admitting to tweeting lewd photos of himself and engaging in inappropriate online relationships with other women. Hide Caption 6 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career U.S. President Barack Obama acknowledges Abedin at an Iftar dinner celebrating Ramadan in the State Dining Room of the White House August 10, 2012 in Washington. Hide Caption 7 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career Abedin talks with a guest during an Iftar dinner at the White House August 10, 2011. Hide Caption 8 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career Clinton (right) and Abedin arrive for a NATO Foreign Minister family photo in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin April 14, 2011. Hide Caption 9 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career Clinton (right) receives a note from Abedin as she testifies about the State Department's 2012 budget during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on March 10, 2011 in Washington. Hide Caption 10 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career Clinton (left), accompanied by Abedin (center), greets people before a meeting on the Flood Emergency in Pakistan September 19, 2010 at United Nations headquarters in New York. Hide Caption 11 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career Abedin (right) accompanies then-Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-New York) after Clinton voted in the Democratic primary election on February 5, 2008 in Chappaqua, New York. Hide Caption 12 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career Clinton greets people during a campaign stop at The McConnell Center January 7, 2008 in Dover, New Hampshire, as Abedin stands behind her. Hide Caption 13 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career Clinton (right) greets people during a campaign stop at Aeroservices, Inc. on January 4, 2008 in Nashua, New Hampshire, accompanied by Abedin. Hide Caption 14 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career Abedin walks with Clinton at Andrews Air Force Base in 2000 as the Clintons prepared to leave for a wedding in Arkansas. Hide Caption 15 of 15 
 
 The emails in question were sent or received by Abedin, according to a law enforcement official. There were a "considerable number" of emails being reviewed from at least one device shared by Abedin and Weiner, the official said. A separate official described it as thousands of messages. 
 
 The FBI is looking at whether any of the newly discovered emails will have an impact on the now-closed investigation into Clinton's server. In his letter, Comey said he was not sure how long the additional review would take and said the FBI "cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant." 
 
 The big question is whether the return of the email storm, which has overshadowed her entire campaign, will have an impact on any remaining undecided voters. Before the latest controversy erupted, Clinton had the advantage in the race for the 270 electoral votes needed to capture the presidency. She is leading Trump by six points in CNN's Poll of Polls. 
 
 Comey under criticism 
 
 Comey is under withering criticism from the Clinton campaign and congressional Democrats for releasing the letter so close to the election. Earlier Friday, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta said "it's extraordinary that we would see something like this just 11 days out from a presidential election." 
 
 He followed up on that criticism in a heated conference call with reporters Saturday, saying Comey's letter was "light on facts, heavy on innuendo, knowing full what Republicans would do with it. It is not up to him who owes the public answers to questions that are now on the table." 
 
 Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who is the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said she was "shocked" to read Comey's letter. 
 
 "Director Comey's announcement played right into the political campaign of Donald Trump," she said in a statement. 
 
 Even Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin urged Comey to provide more information: "In line with your commitment to be transparent with Congress and the public, I respectfully request that the FBI provide as much information as possible about these new developments without harming the integrity of its ongoing investigation," Johnson wrote in a letter to Comey. 
 
 The FBI chief felt he had no choice but to tell Congress now or risk being accused of hiding relevant information before the election, law enforcement officials said in explaining the timing. The letter was "carefully worded," one of the officials said. 
 
 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Hillary Clinton accepts the Democratic Party's nomination for president at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 28. The former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state was the first woman to lead the presidential ticket of a major political party. Hide Caption 1 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Before marrying Bill Clinton, she was Hillary Rodham. Here she attends Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Her commencement speech at Wellesley's graduation ceremony in 1969 attracted national attention. After graduating, she attended Yale Law School. Hide Caption 2 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Rodham was a lawyer on the House Judiciary Committee, whose work led to impeachment charges against President Richard Nixon in 1974. Hide Caption 3 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight In 1975, Rodham married Bill Clinton, whom she met at Yale Law School. He became the governor of Arkansas in 1978. In 1980, the couple had a daughter, Chelsea. Hide Caption 4 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Arkansas' first lady, now using the name Hillary Rodham Clinton, wears her inaugural ball gown in 1985. Hide Caption 5 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight The Clintons celebrate Bill's inauguration in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1991. He was governor from 1983 to 1992, when he was elected President. Hide Caption 6 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Bill Clinton comforts his wife on the set of "60 Minutes" after a stage light broke loose from the ceiling and knocked her down in January 1992. Hide Caption 7 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight In June 1992, Clinton uses a sewing machine designed to eliminate back and wrist strain. She had just given a speech at a convention of the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union. Hide Caption 8 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight During the 1992 presidential campaign, Clinton jokes with her husband's running mate, Al Gore, and Gore's wife, Tipper, aboard a campaign bus. Hide Caption 9 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton accompanies her husband as he takes the oath of office in January 1993. Hide Caption 10 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight The Clintons share a laugh on Capitol Hill in 1993. Hide Caption 11 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton unveils the renovated Blue Room of the White House in 1995. Hide Caption 12 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton waves to the media in January 1996 as she arrives for an appearance before a grand jury in Washington. The first lady was subpoenaed to testify as a witness in the investigation of the Whitewater land deal in Arkansas. The Clintons' business investment was investigated, but ultimately they were cleared of any wrongdoing. Hide Caption 13 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight The Clintons hug as Bill is sworn in for a second term as President. Hide Caption 14 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight The first lady holds up a Grammy Award, which she won for her audiobook "It Takes a Village" in 1997. Hide Caption 15 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight The Clintons dance on a beach in the U.S. Virgin Islands in January 1998. Later that month, Bill Clinton was accused of having a sexual relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Hide Caption 16 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton looks on as her husband discusses the Monica Lewinsky scandal in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on January 26, 1998. Clinton declared, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." In August of that year, Clinton testified before a grand jury and admitted to having "inappropriate intimate contact" with Lewinsky, but he said it did not constitute sexual relations because they had not had intercourse. He was impeached in December on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. Hide Caption 17 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight The first family walks with their dog, Buddy, as they leave the White House for a vacation in August 1998. Hide Caption 18 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight President Clinton makes a statement at the White House in December 1998, thanking members of Congress who voted against his impeachment. The Senate trial ended with an acquittal in February 1999. Hide Caption 19 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton announces in February 2000 that she will seek the U.S. Senate seat in New York. She was elected later that year. Hide Caption 20 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton makes her first appearance on the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee. Hide Caption 21 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Sen. Clinton comforts Maren Sarkarat, a woman who lost her husband in the September 11 terrorist attacks, during a ground-zero memorial in October 2001. Hide Caption 22 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton holds up her book "Living History" before a signing in Auburn Hills, Michigan, in 2003. Hide Caption 23 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton and another presidential hopeful, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, applaud at the start of a Democratic debate in 2007. Hide Caption 24 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Obama and Clinton talk on the plane on their way to a rally in Unity, New Hampshire, in June 2008. She had recently ended her presidential campaign and endorsed Obama. Hide Caption 25 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Obama is flanked by Clinton and Vice President-elect Joe Biden at a news conference in Chicago in December 2008. He had designated Clinton to be his secretary of state. Hide Caption 26 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton, as secretary of state, greets Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during a meeting just outside Moscow in March 2010. Hide Caption 27 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight The Clintons pose on the day of Chelsea's wedding to Marc Mezvinsky in July 2010. Hide Caption 28 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight In this photo provided by the White House, Obama, Clinton, Biden and other members of the national security team receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in May 2011. Hide Caption 29 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton checks her Blackberry inside a military plane after leaving Malta in October 2011. In 2015, The New York Times reported that Clinton exclusively used a personal email account during her time as secretary of state. The account, fed through its own server, raises security and preservation concerns. Clinton later said she used a private domain out of "convenience," but admits in retrospect "it would have been better" to use multiple emails. Hide Caption 30 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton arrives for a group photo before a forum with the Gulf Cooperation Council in March 2012. The forum was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Hide Caption 31 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Obama and Clinton bow during the transfer-of-remains ceremony marking the return of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, who were killed in Benghazi, Libya, in September 2012. Hide Caption 32 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton ducks after a woman threw a shoe at her while she was delivering remarks at a recycling trade conference in Las Vegas in 2014. Hide Caption 33 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton, now running for President again, performs with Jimmy Fallon during a "Tonight Show" skit in September 2015. Hide Caption 34 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton testifies about the Benghazi attack during a House committee meeting in October 2015. "I would imagine I have thought more about what happened than all of you put together," she said during the 11-hour hearing. "I have lost more sleep than all of you put together. I have been wracking my brain about what more could have been done or should have been done." Months earlier, Clinton had acknowledged a "systemic breakdown" as cited by an Accountability Review Board, and she said that her department was taking additional steps to increase security at U.S. diplomatic facilities. Hide Caption 35 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders shares a lighthearted moment with Clinton during a Democratic presidential debate in October 2015. It came after Sanders gave his take on the Clinton email scandal. "The American people are sick and tired of hearing about the damn emails," Sanders said. "Enough of the emails. Let's talk about the real issues facing the United States of America." Hide Caption 36 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton is reflected in a teleprompter during a campaign rally in Alexandria, Virginia, in October 2015. Hide Caption 37 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton walks on her stage with her family after winning the New York primary in April. Hide Caption 38 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight After Clinton became the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee, this photo was posted to her official Twitter account. "To every little girl who dreams big: Yes, you can be anything you want -- even president," Clinton said. "Tonight is for you." Hide Caption 39 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Obama hugs Clinton after he gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. The president said Clinton was ready to be commander in chief. "For four years, I had a front-row seat to her intelligence, her judgment and her discipline," he said, referring to her stint as his secretary of state. Hide Caption 40 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton arrives at a 9/11 commemoration ceremony in New York on September 11. Clinton, who was diagnosed with pneumonia two days before, left early after feeling ill. A video appeared to show her stumble as Secret Service agents helped her into a van. Hide Caption 41 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton addresses a campaign rally in Cleveland on November 6, two days before Election Day. She went on to lose Ohio -- and the election -- to her Republican opponent, Donald Trump. Hide Caption 42 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight After conceding the presidency to Trump in a phone call earlier, Clinton addresses supporters and campaign workers in New York on Wednesday, November 9. Her defeat marked a stunning end to a campaign that appeared poised to make her the first woman elected US president. Hide Caption 43 of 43 
 
 The news united Republicans who have spent the past several weeks grappling with Trump's controversies. Speaker Paul Ryan jumped on Comey's announcement to blast Clinton. 
 
 Trump's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, tweeted after the news broke, "A great day in our campaign just got even better." 
 
 Ryan said Clinton betrayed Americans' trust for handling "the nation's most important secrets." 
 
 "This decision, long overdue, is the result of her reckless use of a private email server, and her refusal to be forthcoming with federal investigators," Ryan said in a statement. "I renew my call for the Director of National Intelligence to suspend all classified briefings for Secretary Clinton until this matter is fully resolved."
– President Barack Obama declined to join in his party's criticism of FBI Director James Comey on Monday, The Hill reports. Director Comey has faced a barrage of attacks from Democrats, some of whom accuse him of trying to meddle in the election by announcing a probe into newly uncovered Hillary Clinton emails just days before the presidential election. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid even went as far as accusing Comey of violating a federal law that prohibits government officials from using their position to impact an election, the Wall Street Journal reports. But Obama doesn't believe anything nefarious is going on, per White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, who told reporters Comey is "a man of integrity [and] good character," and that "the president doesn’t believe he’s secretly strategizing to benefit one candidate or one political party." Meanwhile, Politico looks at whether the latest email revelations could push swing states toward Trump. One expert notes, "I would not think this news is enough to push them [to one candidate] for good." And in more potentially good news for the Clinton campaign, the New York Times reports some 21 million people have already submitted their votes via mail-in ballots or early voting, meaning their votes won't be affected by any late-breaking scandals. Over at the Trump campaign, the Washington Post reports that Trump praised Comey's move Monday, saying Comey had "brought back his reputation" by being transparent about the new information.