Kevin Johnson

USA TODAY

Federal authorities have obtained a warrant to review a tranche of newly-discovered emails that could be related to the previously-closed investigation of Hillary Clinton’ handling of classified information, an official familiar with the matter said Sunday.

The official who is not authorized to comment publicly said the process had begun to seek an expeditious review of emails linked to longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin. Though the volume of emails is substantial — perhaps in the thousands — authorities have not completely ruled out the possibility of completing the review by Election Day.

It is possible that many of the emails, discovered during a separate investigation of Abedin’s estranged husband former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner, are duplicates of those already reviewed by the FBI, the official said. Weiner is suspected of having sexually charged communications with a 15-year-old girl.

Meanwhile, a Justice Department official said that although Attorney General Loretta Lynch objected to FBI Director James Comey’s decision to notify Congress of the new email discovery, Justice officials would be supporting the FBI action to resolve the matter as quickly as possible.

The Clinton campaign said Sunday that neither Abedin nor her lawyer had been contacted by the FBI.

The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that there may be as many as 650,000 emails on the laptop, but it is unclear how many may be relevant to the Clinton email server investigation.

FBI Director James Comey announced Friday that the bureau had uncovered emails that may be related to the FBI probe of Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. Comey had announced in July that while Clinton had mishandled classified information on her private email, he would not recommend criminal charges against her.

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Democrats were outraged by Comey's announcement Friday that the bureau was reviewing more emails, saying that he provided so little detail as to open the door to an array of conspiracy theories. Attorney General Loretta Lynch had urged Comey not to announce the new review, saying it violated the Justice Department's policy of not interfering in elections.

The Trump campaign has praised Comey for disclosing the latest review of emails, saying Americans deserved to know before they vote.

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