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The FBI Won’t Pursue Legal Charges Against Hillary Clinton Despite New Emails

James Comey, FBI Director, told Congress on Sunday that the agency stands firm on its recommendation not to pursue legal charges against Hillary Clinton. The announcement came after the agency reviewed a new batch of emails related to Clinton’s private server use.

“Based on our review, we have not changed our conclusions that we expressed in July,” said Comey in a letter to Congress.

Comey’s letter came just two days before the election and amid criticism for his announcement of the FBI’s discovery of new emails related to investigation of Clinton’s private email use.

“Since my letter, the FBI investigative team has been working around the clock to process and review a large volume of emails from a device obtained in connection with an unrelated criminal investigation,” Comey said on Sunday regarding his note from October 28.

While the FBI Director’s message did not indicate whether the agency completed its review of the new emails, federal law enforcement officials said they considered the review complete.

A trove of new emails related to Clinton’s private email server was discovered by the FBI during a separate investigation into Anthony Weiner. The messages were found on Weiner’s laptop to allegedly send sex-related emails to a 15-year-old girl. Investigators uncovered 650,000 emails on the laptop.

The majority of the emails were duplicates of the ones seen by the FBI previously and personal emails.

Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said, “We were always confident nothing would cause the July decision to be revisited.”

Federal law enforcement officials had said previously that only something astounding would change July’s decision.

Comey has faced intense scrutiny for announcing the FBI’s review of the emails, with many speculating that his intentions were to sway the election. Harry Reid alleged that the FBI Director violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from using their authority or influence to sway the outcome of the election.