When they take their vows and assume office, senior officials in the Justice Department and the FBI become part of these traditions, with an obligation to preserve, protect and defend them. They enjoy a credibility established by generations of honorable public servants, and they owe a solemn obligation to maintain that credibility. They are not to arrogate to themselves the choices made by the Justice Department and honored over the years.

As part of that obligation, they must recognize that the department is an institution, not a person. As its temporary custodians, they must neither seek the spotlight for their own advancement nor avoid accountability for the hard decisions they inevitably face. Justice allows neither for self-aggrandizing crusaders on high horses nor for passive bureaucrats wielding rubber stamps from the shadows. It demands both humility and responsibility.

...First, the FBI director, James B. Comey, put himself enthusiastically forward as the arbiter of not only whether to prosecute a criminal case — which is not the job of the FBI — but also best practices in the handling of email and other matters. Now, he has chosen personally to restrike the balance between transparency and fairness, departing from the department’s traditions.

They conclude:

As it stands, we now have real-time, raw-take transparency taken to its illogical limit, a kind of reality TV of federal criminal investigation. Perhaps worst of all, it is happening on the eve of a presidential election. It is antithetical to the interests of justice, putting a thumb on the scale of this election and damaging our democracy.

Eric Holder and dozens of prosecutors have also written a letter blasting Comey. Two ethics complaints have been filed. The person who filed one of them has this oped in the NY Times on his decision to file it.

Weiner's computer was reportedly seized a while ago, and there are unconfirmed reports FBI agents have known for weeks that it contained some of Huma's emails. Comey says he was only told Thursday. I assume there is no federal grand jury investigating Weiner because otherwise someone would point out Comey should be in deep doo-doo for violating grand jury secrecy rules by discussing any evidence seized in the Weiner investigation. (That's not to say a Weiner Indictment isn't imminent -- if it is, maybe Comey believed details about Huma's emails on a computer seized in the Weiner investigation were going to be leaked before the election, so he decided to get in front of it to save his reputation.)

Search warrants for computers aren't authorized for everything on the computer, only for things that might constitute evidence of the crime under investigation. The Weiner investigation was for an alleged child sexting incident in 2016. While it's possible the affidavit for the first warrant asked to search for information on his 2011 and 2013 alleged sexting incidents as well the 2016 incident, to establish a pattern or modus operandi, I can't see how the warrant for Weiner's computer would have authorized a search of his wife's work-related emails.

Assuming the date and header details of Huma's emails were "in plain view" when forensic analysts were examining the Weiner computer, I think any seasoned FBI agent or state law enforcement officer would have stopped and sought advice of his superiors or the prosecutor before opening the emails. Any ethical prosecutor would have told them they need to apply for a second warrant before (admitting to) reading them.

It seems the new search warrant was obtained in the Southern District of New York, which reportedly has taken control of the Weiner case over the Western District of North Carolina and the local New York authorities. The Western District of North Carolina (where the 15 year old whom Weiner sexted with resides) at one point confirmed it had launched an investigation. There are reports it has since yielded to the Southern District of New York.

Also of note: In the Clinton email probe, the Eastern District of Virginia was the only federal District to have a prosecutor present during Huma Abedin's FBI debriefing -- see the FBI's 302 report of her interview.

Huma testified in her Judicial Watch deposition that she gave two of her laptops and a Blackberry to her lawyers who searched for and turned over relevant emails to the State Department, which was conducting a review of whether all work-related emails from Hillary's SOS days had been returned to the State Department.

The investigation of Hillary's emails on her private server pertains to the time she served as Secretary of State. She left in 2012. Any emails sent or received after Hillary left office would have no relevance to the investigation of Hillary's use of a private server or email chains discussing possible classified matter while Secretary of State. (Comey testified no classified documents were downloaded from anywhere -- the whole investigation is about whether there was a discussion of classified material among a chain of people.)

The timeline is curious. For Huma's emails from SOS days to be on Weiner's computer, he has to have had the computer since 2012 or earlier. Was this laptop no longer in use and stashed in a closet in the apartment? Who uses a 4 year old laptop? Yes, I know Donald Trump's doctor still uses Windows XP but that has to be an unusual case. I doubt very many people whose jobs are as highly computer-dependent as those who work as a chief logistical aide to a cabinet member or for a national political campaign or who are themselves running for a prominent elected office are using 4 year old laptops. It's not like Weiner or Huma were electricians during the day and only got online at night to check their email or stream a video. Surely they would have a newer laptop. And if this was an old laptop not used for a few years, what relevance does it have to Weiner's 2016 sexting allegation?

Huma told the FBI (see the 11 page FBI 302 of her April, 2016 interview or the final 347 page FBI report) that until Hillary changed email systems after leaving the State Department, she (Huma) only accessed her email via a web portal -- she did not have Outlook or any means of downloading emails sent to and from Hillary's private server onto her own computer. After 2012, she couldn't access emails on the server at all.

Also, contrary to some news reports, Huma did tell the FBI that she also had an email account with her husband's campaign. From the FBI 302 of her interview:

ABEDIN provided that she was issued an official DoS email account, abedinh@state.gov, which she used for DoS related work. She also had an email account that was provided by CLINTON, huma@clintonemail.com, which she used for matters related to CLINTON's personal affairs and to communicate with CLINTON's personal staff and friends. ABEDIN also had a personal Yahoo email account. ABEDIN could access her clintonemail.com account and her Yahoo account via the internet on the unclassified DoS computer system. She would use these accounts if her DoS account was down or if she needed to print an email or document. ABEDIN further explained that it was difficult to print from the DoS system so she routinely forwarded emails to her non-DoS accounts so she could more easily print. ABEDIN also had another email account that she had previously used to support her husband's campaign activities.

If Huma opened an email that she sent to one of her private email accounts from Hillary's server email or her state department email, it would still be on the computer she used during those days, since she didn't delete them. But it's likely the FBI already has them, since her lawyers turned over all work related emails on her two laptops and Blackberry, and other Clinton aides did the same with their emails. And if the laptop was acquired after 2012, there shouldn't be any emails on it from Hillary's SOS days.

Of course, Huma was required to return all State Dept. emails to the State Dept., and if she didn't know that she had used Weiner's computer to open some, they might not have been returned. But that's not a crime, there's no intent, and it has nothing to do with Hillary. Hillary is not responsible for her aide's choice of computer to use when emailing her or printing documents.

In any event, Comey is a disgrace. He should resign. The only more disgraceful person is Donald Trump.

Donald Trump is delusional if he thinks he can win the Presidency because of James Comey's bizarre announcement. The net effect of Comey's actions (other than tarnishing the reputation of the FBI and Justice Department) will be to ensure that every Democrat, and every person who shudders at the thought of a Trump win, will take nothing for granted and turn out to vote on Nov. 8. With one ill-advised letter that was devoid of facts and seems to have been motivated by ego and self-aggrandizement, Comey has single-handedly erased complacency among voters.