As Hillary Rodham Clinton weighs a second presidential run, there are certain steps she needs to take along the way to a decision. She took a couple of them in San Francisco Monday afternoon in a speech about voting rights. 
 
 Clinton can afford to keep a low public profile more than the other potential 2016ers. But she simply can't be a non-factor on the big issues of the day. If she were to do that, she'd face criticism that she was absent from the political debate for a couple of years, assuming she makes an announcement after the 2014 midterms. 
 
 She dove right into one big issue on Monday, weighing in with a lengthy take on a matter that has fired up the Democratic base. 
 
 When the Supreme Court struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act in June, Democrats all the way up to President Obama expressed swift and sharp disappointment. Meanwhile, the state-by-state battle over voter ID laws has also been a galvanizing force for party activists and leaders. The debate has thrust issues of race into the forefront of the political conversation. 
 
 “Anyone that says that racial discrimination is no longer a problem in American elections must not be paying attention,” Clinton told the annual gathering of the American Bar Association. She also criticized the court's ruling and singled out the states that have, in her view, the most voting repressive laws. 
 
 In all, it was a pretty impassioned address. It was also a necessary one for the potential White House contender. 
 
 Clinton doesn't need to cobble together a coalition in early nominating states or build the trust of key donors and power brokers like some other potential candidates do. Many Democrats are already lining up -- privately and publicly -- to support her, and she'd be the instant Democratic front-runner the moment she says the words. 
 
 But Clinton does need to get in the game, so to speak, on some key issues. Voting rights is one, not only for the reasons mentioned above. It's also a topic over which Clinton could begin to make her case as the heir apparent to Obama and try to persuade parts of his coalition -- minorities and liberals in particular -- to back her. 
 
 Gay marriage, for which she announced her support in March, is another. And there are more. 
 
 All of which brings us to the second thing Clinton did: She signaled that she will be weighing on other big issues in the coming months. 
 
 "Next month at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, I will talk about the balance and transparency necessary in our national security policies, as we move beyond a decade of wars to face new threats," Clinton said. "And later in the fall, I will address the implications of these issues for America's global leadership and our moral standing around the world." 
 
 The question of whether Clinton will run for president remains up in the air. Until she says yes or no, her every move will be scrutinized. And she'll be expected to weigh in, to some extent, on the issues the Democratic base are most concerned with right now. And that's just what she did on Monday. 
 
 Fixbits: 
 
 It's Election Day in New Jersey! Polls close at 8 p.m. ET. 
 
 Obama will tout his economic message on a bus tour of New York and Pennsylvania next week. 
 
 North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signed an extensive voter ID law. 
 
 South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) is officially running for reelection. 
 
 Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Democrats will have a candidate for the West Virginia Senate race to announce shortly. 
 
 Ron Paul said it's "safe to say" he is not a fan of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R). 
 
 The NRCC is hitting Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.) with a $10,000 ad buy. 
 
 Anthony Weiner said the coverage of his campaign has been "fairly brutal." 
 
 Must-reads: 
 
 "Gansler said rival Brown relying on race in Maryland governor’s contest" -- John Wagner, Washington Post 
 
 "Eric Holder’s ‘mandatory minimums’ gamble" -- Josh Gerstein, Politico ||||| In a speech at the American Bar Association, Â Hillary Clinton says that there is a new effort to obstruct voting "often undercover of addressing a phantom epidemic of election fraud" and takes issue with the Supreme Court's recent Voting Rights Act ruling. 
 
 Hillary Clinton offered some of her sharpest political rhetoric since stepping down as secretary of state on Monday when she roundly criticized stricter voter ID laws and a recent Supreme Court decision striking down a central component of the Voting Rights Act. 
 
 Clinton, who is viewed as a frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, decried a series of state laws enacted — often by Republicans — to tighten restrictions on who may vote in elections. 
 
 Clinton criticized a "sweeping effort to construct new obstacles to voting, often under cover of addressing a phantom epidemic of 'election fraud.'" 
 
 And she said that those laws have driven a disparity in access to the ballot, which Clinton claimed threatened to undermine the thrust of the Voting Rights Act, the historic, 1960s-era civil rights legislation. 
 
 "Now, not every obstacle is related to race, but anyone who says that racial discrimination is no longer a problem in American elections must not be paying attention," she said. 
 
 Clinton later urged her former colleagues on Capitol Hill to fix "the hole opened up by the Supreme Court's ruling," warning otherwise that "historical progress toward a 'more perfect union' will go backward, not forward." 
 
 Her remarks at times resembled a formal policy address delivered by candidates for office — a tantalizing glimpse of the presidential campaign many Democrats hope Clinton will mount come the next election. 
 
 To improve access to voting, Clinton also encouraged the Justice Department to more rigorously enforce voting laws left on the books, and urged Congress to pass legislation to replace portions of the Voting Rights Act struck down by the Supreme Court this June. She also urged fellow lawyers, gathered for the American Bar Association's annual meeting in San Francisco, to step up their own efforts on behalf of voting rights. 
 
 She also endorsed legislation to make voting easier in a variety of ways, for instance by working to reduce waiting times at polling places, and address disparities in access to voting. 
 
 The speech was one of the most overtly political steps taken by Clinton in the six months since she left the Obama administration to return to private life. 
 
 Moreover, Clinton said today's speech was a first in a series of remarks she'd deliver this year; the former New York senator said she would address transparency of national security programs next month, and speak to global issues this autumn. 
 
 The speeches help lay the groundwork for and outline the rationale for a potential Clinton presidential candidacy in 2016. She spoke to the barriers many communities have faced throughout U.S. history — an oblique reference to the possibility that her own candidacy might shatter the glass ceiling for women seeking the presidency. 
 
 "Despite our founding principles and the many ways our Constitution protects individual liberties, we do — let's admit it — have a long history of shutting people out. African Americans, women, gays and lesbians, people with disabilities," she said. ||||| Federal appellate judges on Friday struck down a 2013 law limiting voting options and requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls, declaring in an unsparing opinion that the restrictions “target African Americans with almost surgical precision.” 
 
 The three-judge panel of the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals found that the law was adopted with “discriminatory intent” despite lawmakers’ claims that the ID provision and other changes were designed to prevent voter fraud. 
 
 The ruling — which could have implications for voting laws in other states and possibly for the outcome of close races in the swing state of North Carolina — sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder, who in April issued a 485-page decision dismissing all claims in the legal challenge. 
 
 “In holding that the legislature did not enact the challenged provisions with discriminatory intent, the court seems to have missed the forest in carefully surveying the many trees,” the ruling states. “This failure of perspective led the court to ignore critical facts bearing on legislative intent, including the inextricable link between race and politics in North Carolina.” 
 
 $20 for 365 Days of Unlimited Digital Access Last chance to take advantage of our best offer of the year! Act now! 
 
 The ruling prohibits North Carolina from requiring photo identification from voters in future elections, including the November 2016 general election. It restores a week of early voting and preregistration for 16- and 17-year-olds, and ensures that same-day registration and out-of-precinct voting will remain in effect. 
 
 State Board of Elections officials immediately began to pull back advertising campaigns that had been designed to air on TV, radio and other media in the coming months to educate North Carolina voters about what they would need to cast ballots in the coming election. 
 
 Challengers of the elections law overhaul shepherded through the Republican-led General Assembly in 2013 and signed into law by Gov. Pat McCrory quickly lauded the ruling. Republican leaders criticized the ruling, noting that IDs are required to board airplanes, enter federal courthouses, cash checks and more. They announced their plans to appeal. 
 
 U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who leads the U.S. Justice Department that was a party in the lawsuit challenging the law, praised the appellate panel for striking down a law “that the court described in its ruling as ‘one of the largest restrictions of the franchise in modern North Carolina history.’ ” Lynch described the law as one that placed “barriers between citizens and the ballot box.” 
 
 “And it sent a message that contradicted some of the most basic principles of our democracy,” Lynch said in her statement. “The ability of Americans to have a voice in the direction of their country – to have a fair and free opportunity to help write the story of this nation – is fundamental to who we are and who we aspire to be. Going forward, the Department of Justice will continue our work to protect that sacred right for all.” 
 
 Read the court opinion 
 
 Lynch and many others echoed phrases from several lines in the 83-page ruling that bats back contentions by advocates of the law who claimed IDs were needed at the polls to prevent voter fraud. 
 
 “Although the new provisions target African Americans with almost surgical precision, they constitute inapt remedies for the problems assertedly justifying them and, in fact, impose cures for problems that did not exist,” the 4th Circuit judges wrote. 
 
 “This ruling is a stinging rebuke of the state’s attempt to undermine African-American voter participation, which had surged over the last decade,” said Dale Ho, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project. “It is a major victory for North Carolina voters and for voting rights.” 
 
 N.C. Senate leader Phil Berger, a Republican from Rockingham County, and state House Speaker Tim Moore, a Republican from Cleveland County, issued a joint statement questioning the motives of the three-judge panel — Judge Diana Motz, a Bill Clinton appointee, Judge James A. Wynn Jr., a Barack Obama appointee, and Judge Henry F. Floyd, an Obama appointee to the 4th circuit bench but a George W. Bush appointee to the U.S. District bench. 
 
 “Since today’s decision by three partisan Democrats ignores legal precedent, ignores the fact that other federal courts have used North Carolina’s law as a model, and ignores the fact that a majority of other states have similar protections in place, we can only wonder if the intent is to reopen the door for voter fraud, potentially allowing fellow Democrat politicians like Hillary Clinton and Roy Cooper to steal the election. We will obviously be appealing this politically-motivated decision to the Supreme Court,” Berger and Moore said. 
 
 “The voter ID law ensures any North Carolina citizen who wants to vote will have that opportunity,” Berger and Moore contended. They pointed to provisions in state law that allow someone without ID to obtain a Division of Motor Vehicles card at no cost as well as offering people who have been unable to obtain one of the six acceptable forms of ID to cast a provisional ballot. 
 
 McCrory, in his statement, accused “three Democratic judges” of “undermining the integrity of our elections while also maligning our state.” 
 
 Other voter ID rulings 
 
 North Carolina’s law is the third with an ID provision courts have rejected in the past two weeks. 
 
 A federal district judge found Wisconsin’s ID law too restrictive. The full 5th U.S. Circuit appeals court found that Texas’s voter ID law violated the Voting Rights Act by making it more difficult for minorities to vote and opened the door for putting the state under federal supervision again. 
 
 “We applaud the appeals court for recognizing the discriminatory intent behind the monster voter suppression law,” Bob Hall, director of Democracy NC, a voting rights organization, said in a statement about the N.C. case. “The ruling makes clear that the North Carolina General Assembly cherry-picked the law to suppress African American and young voters because of the 2008 election. Today’s ruling begins to right that wrong.” 
 
 In North Carolina, the state could ask the full bench of the 4th Circuit to review the ruling. But attorneys and others speculate that even if the full court agreed to review the case, the 2013 election-law changes would not be restored before the November elections. 
 
 “Because of this ruling, North Carolinians will now be able to register and vote free of the obstacles created by the Legislature in 2013,” said Southern Coalition for Social Justice senior attorney Allison Riggs. 
 
 Dallas Woodhouse, executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party, questioned whether the law had been defended well. Though N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper’s office represented lawmakers in the case, Republican leaders also hired private attorneys. 
 
 “This is an effort to overthrow the will of the people on voter ID and ballot security, and it is led by the Democrats and, we believe, by Roy Cooper, who did a really lackluster job of defending voter ID while at the same time publicly criticizing it,” Woodhouse said Friday afternoon. 
 
 But Cooper’s campaign noted that Cooper, the Democrat running for governor, had advised McCrory in 2013 to veto the bill. 
 
 North Carolinians were not the only ones commenting on the decision Friday. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate for president, tweeted her support for the ruling. 
 
 Big victory for democracy as the 4th Circuit just struck down a NC voter discrimination law. Let’s keep fighting to make voting easier. -H — Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 29, 2016 
 
 The Rev. William J. Barber II, fresh off of addressing the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, admonished lawmakers for changing North Carolina’s election laws that had made the state a “model for the nation in encouraging people to vote.” 
 
 Barber is president of the state NAACP that participated in the legal challenge, and the architect of the Moral Monday movement that has protested the voter ID law and other legislation from the Republican-controlled legislature and governor’s office. 
 
 “Today the 4th Circuit’s decision gives North Carolinians back an electoral system that allows the people of North Carolina to vote freely this fall,” Barber said in a statement. 
 
 In 2015, on the eve of the federal trial over the 2013 law, the legislature softened the ID requirement by adding a provison that allowed voters without acceptable ID to cast a provisional ballot if they could show a “reasonable impediment” to obtaining an ID. 
 
 Though Motz differed from Wynn and Floyd on whether the time was right to weigh the “reasonable impediment” option, Wynn wrote for the majority: “Nothing in this record shows that the reasonable impediment exception ensures that the photo ID law no longer imposes any lingering burden on African American voters.” 
 
 That could be significant for Texas and Wisconsin, where such a softening of the ID requirement was suggested, too, lawyers said. 
 
 “This is a very big win for voting rights plaintiffs and the DOJ,” said Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California-Irvine who writes about law and politics on his electionlawblog.org. ||||| Anthony Weiner’s circus of a mayoral campaign came to a thudding halt on Tuesday as Weiner offered his concession speech, dropping out of New York City’s Democratic primary. 
 
 With three-fifths of the vote counted, the disgraced ex-congressman had 5 percent and was in fifth place in the crowded race. 
 
 Text Size - 
 
 + 
 
 reset Weiner concedes in New York City 
 
 “We had the best ideas,” Weiner, who at times seemed to be holding back his emotions, said. “Sadly, I was an imperfect messenger.” 
 
 On Tuesday Weiner voted with his young son in tow, and later held an Election Night party at an Irish pub in Manhattan. His wife, Huma Abedin, did not appear with him, and she and their son weren’t mentioned in his concession speech. 
 
 (Also on POLITICO: Sydney Leathers shows up at Anthony Weiner election party) 
 
 “There was never any quit in this campaign,” he said in his concession speech, as he outlined his policy positions and thanked volunteers, family and staff — especially the “wonder women in this campaign.” 
 
 Weiner, a former lawmaker who resigned from Congress in 2011 over a sexting scandal, initially looked like a plausible candidate. But it all ended with graphic new revelations that he continued to have illicit online relationships even after leaving Washington. 
 
 When Weiner entered the race in May, he painted himself as a reformed family man and a fighter for the middle class. In a campaign announcement video, he appeared with his wife and their child. 
 
 (Also on POLITICO: De Blasio leads in primary) 
 
 “Look, I’ve made some big mistakes and I know I’ve let a lot of people down,” he said in the clip. “But I’ve also learned some tough lessons. I’m running for mayor because I’ve been fighting for the middle class and those struggling to make it for my entire life. And I hope I get a second chance to work for you.” 
 
 For a time, Weiner was competitive: a poll released right as this summer’s scandals broke put him in first place, with 26 percent, and he looked headed to a run-off. 
 
 Abedin appeared by his side again in July, under drastically different circumstances. A woman who would later be identified as Sydney Leathers came forward late that month with explicit evidence of her online relationship with Weiner. The couple held a dramatic press conference to address the charges, the first acknowledgment that Weiner’s extramarital sexting habits continued for some time after leaving Congress. 
 
 (WATCH: Anthony Weiner's 10 crazy campaign moments) 
 
 That admission was the beginning of the end for Weiner. Two days later, he said he had engaged in sexually charged online relationships with six to 10 women over time, with up to three of those dalliances occurring after he left Congress. For weeks he was the subject of salacious stories and tawdry headlines, and his poll numbers plummeted. After the initial press conference with Abedin, she disappeared from the campaign trail. 
 
 Questions have persisted about the state of their marriage. Abedin, a top Hillary Clinton aide who had taken a vacation during the primary, according to a Weiner campaign source, was already back with Clinton in D.C. on Monday at an event for the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation. 
 
 Weiner still earned media coverage in the weeks leading up to the primary, but several times the subject matter concerned his various heated exchanges with reporters and voters. On Monday — the night before Election Day — he engaged in a fiery tussle on TV, complete with swear words, with MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell. Last week, he exploded at a voter in a face-off that went viral. Weiner later suggested the shouting match was triggered by an incendiary comment made about Abedin, but he was tearing into a voter, an Orthodox Jew, nonetheless. 
 
 Throughout, Weiner maintained that he still had a shot at winning, even as his poll numbers were in the single digits. 
 
 In the contentious interview with O’Donnell, Weiner was asked what he plans to do after he loses. 
 
 “I don’t plan on losing,” he said, adding, “Maybe I’ll come on this show and kick your ass every night, like I’m doing now.” 
 
 Moments after his concession speech, Weiner flipped his middle finger at a reporter as he left, according to journalists who tweeted about the interaction. 
 
 Maggie Haberman contributed to this report. ||||| (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."
– The first speech by Hillary the 2016 candidate? The former secretary of state yesterday lit into voter ID laws springing up across the nation as well as the Supreme Court's decision in June to defang the Voting Rights Act, reports NBC News. The big quote in her speech to the American Bar Association: "Now, not every obstacle is related to race, but anyone who says that racial discrimination is no longer a problem in American elections must not be paying attention," she said, calling on Congress to step forward. It sure sounded like a candidate's speech, writes Sean Sullivan in the Washington Post, who says Clinton must "get in the game" on key issues if she does indeed plan to run. On this issue in particular, Clinton can "make her case as the heir apparent to Obama and try to persuade parts of his coalition—minorities and liberals in particular—to back her." (She spoke on the same day that North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed into place a law requiring voters to have a photo ID, reports the News & Observer.) Over at CBS, Anthony Weiner offers up a maybe-hint that Clinton will run when asked last night if he knows what wife Huma Abedin's role would be in a campaign. "I do," he said. But, "I'm not telling you." In the coming months, Clinton plans speeches on national security and America's standing in the world. Much of her public presence in this "next phase of life" will come through the family foundation she is co-running with Bill and Chelsea Clinton, notes Politico. It's the first time since the 1992 campaign that she and Bill are essentially working together.