State Department releases classified emails from Clinton aide Huma Abedin found on Anthony Weiner's computer

Several classified emails from former Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin were among a tranche of documents released Friday that were found on Anthony Weiner’s personal computer during an FBI probe. 

The State Department released about 2,800 documents, only a few of which were classified, as part of a successful lawsuit by conservative legal group Judicial Watch. 

The group’s president, Tom Fitton, called the release a “major victory.” 

“Judicial Watch has forced the State Department to finally allow Americans to see these public documents,” Fitton said. “That these government docs were on Anthony Weiner’s laptop dramatically illustrates the need for the Justice Department to finally do a serious investigation of Hillary Clinton’s and Huma Abedin’s obvious violations of law.” 

The public release of the documents uncovered by the FBI included Clinton’s daily schedule, conversations about media interviews, traveling arrangements and talking points for calls with heads of nations around the world.

Some names and details were redacted. 

A message in one November 2011 email was redacted entirely and was marked “classified” and “confidential.” 

The email’s subject line reads, “Egyptian MFA on Hammas-PLO talks,” an apparent reference to the Palestinian Authority.

Another email, sent in May 2012, was marked “classified” and “confidential.” The contents of the email aren’t entirely clear as many details are redacted. The message talks about “issues” and a press conference. 

In one 2010 email, Abedin forwarded a message to Weiner that another official sent to her and Clinton discussing changes in Israel’s Gaza policy. Another email in 2010 discusses the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti and United Nations staffers who were still buried under rubble. 

Abedin was Clinton’s deputy chief of staff at the State Department and at the time was married to Weiner, the former New York congressman who pleaded guilty in May to sexting with a 15-year-old girl and was sentenced in September to 21 months in prison. Abedin has since filed for divorce. 

Abedin’s email practices have been in the spotlight before — and were central to the FBI’s decision to re-open the investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server when she was secretary of State. 

In a May 3 Senate hearing, former FBI Director James Comey defended his decision to announce the reopening of the probe 11 days before the November 2016 election after he learned about emails recovered on Weiner’s laptop. “I could not see a door labeled, ‘No action needed,'” he said then.

The FBI recovered the emails while investigating Weiner in a separate sexting investigation. 

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Also in that hearing, Comey testified that Abedin forwarded “hundreds of thousands” of messages involving Clinton — some of which contained classified information — to her husband so he could print them out.  

However, just days later, the FBI sent a letter to the Senate panel explaining that Comey’s assessment was inaccurate.

Only 49,000 emails potentially relevant to the Clinton investigation were found on Weiner’s laptop, the FBI said then. A majority of them ended up on Weiner’s computer because of backups from Abedin’s personal electronic devices — and Abedin forwarded only a “small number” of the emails, the FBI said. 

Of those forwarded to Weiner, only two email chains contained classified information, the FBI said. Ten other email chains that had classified information were on the laptop because of backups, the FBI said. What’s more, all 12 email chains had been previously reviewed by investigators. 

President Trump fired Comey on May 9, the same day the correction letter was sent to the Hill. 

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– Jessica Estepa contributed.

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