Warrants are drawn specifically so that police can’t go on broad fishing expeditions. If there is something that comes up that you want that is beyond the scope of the warrant, then you have to get another one. Let the games begin!
Via NBC:
The FBI obtained a warrant to search emails related to the Hillary Clinton private server probe that were discovered on ex-congressman Anthony Weiner’s laptop, law enforcement officials confirmed Sunday.
The warrant came two days after FBI director James Comey revealed the existence of the emails, which law-enforcement sources said were linked to Weiner’s estranged wife, top Clinton aide Huma Abedin.
The FBI already had a warrant to search Weiner’s laptop, but that only applied to evidence of his allegedly illicit communications with an underage girl.
Comey having testified before Congress in their investigations concerning Hillary’s emails had a continuing obligation to update his testimony, that is that the investigation was re-ignited or continuing, after he had told them it was closed. Had he not done so, he could have been accused of lying to Congress and charged with contempt of Congress. Had he done so and then brought this up after the election, he would have been accused of hiding the information to protect Hillary.
That’s why it’s fundamentally different from talking about another case, such as the alleged case into Trump’s Russian ties, because he had no testimony about that before Congress, so no requirement to inform them.
It’s also probably not a Hatch Act violation because Comey is an appointee of the President, with approval of the Senate responsible for federal policy. That would mean he was exempt from the Hatch Act. But even if it were ruled that it applied, they would still have to show an intentional violation, and doing ones job in an investigation would not be a violation.
Obama cabinet secretaries who were deemed to have violated the spirit of the Hatch Act, Kathleen Sebelius and Joaquin Castro, both of whom blatantly politicked for Hillary Clinton, were simply told, ‘don’t do it again’.
HT: Laura Walker