The FBI reopened its investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server days before the election based on a hunch that it might contain classified information that had been found on 27 email chains previously recovered , according to a search warrant in the case unsealed on Tuesday.

Authorities said in the warrant request that they suspected a Dell Inspiron 15 7000 series used by senior Clinton aide Huma Abedin contained classified email exchanges with Clinton, but claimed they had not actually looked at the content of the messages.

The FBI said it previously found 27 email chains sent to or from Abedin that contained classified information, in its earlier examination of emails recovered from the Clinton server and the State Department.

Comey announced last summer that although thousands of emails containing classified material had passed through Clinton’s server, he did not see evidence of criminal intent and would not recommend prosecution.

Officials argued in the warrant request that because classified information had been sent to or from Abedin in the past, there was a good chance that some of her emails on the laptop also contained classified information.

Authorities said in the warrant request that they suspected a Dell Inspiron 15 7000 series used by senior Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin contained classified email exchanges with Clinton

A judge still approved the search warrant on October 30, following FBI Director James Comey's bombshell announcement to congress that the FBI was reopening the Clinton investigation.

Many Democrats blame the move for costing Clinton the election less than two weeks later.

The FBI seized the laptop owned by Abedin's husband, disgraced congressman Anthony Weiner in October, in an unrelated investigation into sexual messages he exchanged with a 15-year-old girl.

DailyMail.com broke the story last September: Weiner carried on a months-long online sexual relationship with the teen during which she claimed he asked her to dress up in 'school-girl' outfits for him on a video messaging application and pressed her to engage in 'rape fantasies'.

In the process of the Weiner probe, investigators found that the computer contained 'thousands' of emails sent and received by Abedin, according to the warrant request.

They petitioned a federal judge to issue another warrant related to the investigation of Clinton's private email server, which the FBI had closed earlier this year.

Although investigators claimed they did not look at the content of Abedin's emails – which they were not authorized to do without a warrant – they said the existence of the messages made it likely that some were exchanged with Clinton and contained classified information.

The FBI argued that because other emails they previously reviewed showed that Abedin and Clinton communicated regularly and sometimes exchanged classified information, there was a strong chance that the emails on Weiner's laptop contained did as well.

'Given the information indicating that there are thousands of [Abedin's] emails located on the Subject Laptop…and the regular email correspondence between [Abedin] and Clinton, there is probable cause to believe that the Subject Laptop contains correspondence between [Abedin] and Clinton,' said the warrant request.

The FBI discovered Clinton-related emails on the computer when it was seized after DailyMail.com exposed Weiner's sexting relationship with a 15-year-old girl

In the message to teen which were obtained by the Dailymail.com, Weiner repeatedly complimented the girl's body, told her that she made him 'hard'. He also sent the girl a selfie from a hot tub

'Because it has been determined by relevant original classification authorities that many emails were exchanged between [Abedin] using [redacted] and/or [redacted] accounts, and Clinton that contained classified information, there is also probable cause to believe that correspondence between them located on the Subject Laptop contains classified information,' continued the request.

The FBI also said it was concerned about whether any classified information stored on the laptop was compromised through hacking or other methods.

The warrant and supporting documents were unsealed on Tuesday by Judge P. Kevin Castel.

The request to unseal the warrant was filed by E Randol Schoenberg, a California-based attorney who recovers artwork stolen by the Nazis and helped inspire the film Woman in Gold.

He blasted the FBI on Tuesday after the warrant was unsealed, saying that it showed they had no probable cause to reopen the Clinton probe.

'I see nothing at all in the search warrant application that would give rise to probable cause, nothing that would make anyone suspect that there was anything on the laptop beyond what the FBI had already searched and determined not to be evidence of a crime, nothing to suggest that there would be anything other than routine correspondence between Secretary Clinton and her longtime aide Huma Abedin,' said Schoenberg.

The name of the requesting agent on the warrant was redacted, in addition to Abedin's name and Weiner's name.

Authorities had obtained Weiner's computer in October during a separate probe into sexual messages he exchanged with a 15-year-old girl. But they needed a second warrant to search the computer for information regarding the Clinton case.

A judge still approved the search warrant on October 30, following FBI Director James Comey's (left) bombshell announcement to congress that the FBI was reopening the Clinton investigation. The request to unseal the warrant was filed by E Randol Schoenberg (right), a California-based attorney

DailyMail.com broke the story in September that Weiner carried on a months-long online sexual relationship with the teen, during which she claimed he asked her to dress up in 'school-girl' outfits for him on a video messaging application and pressed her to engage in 'rape fantasies'.

Following the report the FBI launched an investigation into the disgraced congressman.

Clinton and her aides have repeatedly blamed Comey's letter and the FBI for her loss to Trump in November.

Former President Bill Clinton has reportedly made similar claims, recently telling shoppers at his local bookstore that 'James Comey cost her the election.'

Comey wrote an 'update' letter to members of congress in late October telling them that the FBI had renewed its investigation into Clinton after it found potentially relevant emails on Weiner's laptop.

He said the FBI had obtained a warrant but it was not clear at that time whether the emails contained new or substantial information.

Many of the emails reportedly belonged to Huma Abedin, who had also used an email account on the candidate's private server while working at the State Department.

Days before the election, amid strong backlash from Democrats, Comey announced that investigators had not uncovered anything significant to the probe and that it would be closed.

But Clinton and many of her supporters said the overwhelming political damage had already been done by that point, and she was not able to recover before Election Day.



