Huma Abedin's lawyer has thrown new confusion into the Clinton email probe - saying she never used the laptop seized by the FBI where the messages were found.

In a dramatic development, Abedin's newly-hired attorney claimed that the laptop was solely in the possession of the Hillary Clinton aide's ex-husband, pervert Anthony Weiner.

The claim on Abedin's behalf deepens the mystery of how emails relevant to the Clinton server investigation could be found on his laptop.

Initial reports had suggested the device was shared by Abedin and Weiner before their estrangement.

But Karen Dunn told Politico the computer belonged to Weiner alone.

Wasn;t mine: Huma Abedin - who was off the cmapaign trail and pictured exclusively by DailyMail.com on Monday - denies the laptop seized by the FBI from Anthony Weiner was his

Layered up: Huma Abedin has reacted to the probe launched by the FBI and announced by James Comey by hiring Clinton insider Karen Dunn

Dunn - who is a Clinton insider who helped the candidate prepare for her debates with Donald Trump - claimed that Abedin only learned about the FBI move on Friday.

She said Abedin learned 'from press reports of the possibility that a laptop belonging to Mr Weiner could contain emails of hers'.

'While the FBI has not contacted us about this, Ms. Abedin will continue to be, as she always has been, forthcoming and cooperative,' Dunn said in a statement released to Politico.

'From the beginning, Ms. Abedin has complied fully and voluntarily with State Department and law enforcement requests, including sitting for hours-long interviews and providing her work-related and potentially work-related documents.'

She claimed that Abedin's ' willing cooperation has been praised' by law enforcement previously, as well as by members of Congress.

Abedin's personal and political future is now in huge doubt and her decision to hire Dunn emphasizes how high the stakes are.

If she is found by the FBI to have breached the law on handling classified information she could face prosecution with the possibility of prison, while she may also face a perjury probe over why she claimed under oath to have handed over all the devices she knew to contain emails.

Abedin swore under oath while testifying in a lawsuit brought against the State Department by Judicial Watch that she had handed over all of her devices that could hold emails relevant to the investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server.

A federal perjury conviction carries a maximum sentence of five years.

Dunn's defense of her as having not used the laptop appears to be an answer to the perjury claim.

The scandal leaves the Clinton campaign facing disaster after FBI director James Comey announced their discovery had led him to reopen the investigation into Clinton with 11 days until the election.

Agents from the FBI New York field office stumbled on what they thought were pertinent emails when they were searching the laptop during their sexting investigation.

At bay: The dramatic development in the email server investigation has put the Clinton campaign into crisis

They stopped the search and immediately called in colleagues.

They have a subpoena for Weiner's laptop, but it only relates to his emails, not Abedin's. So they needed new approval to broaden their search - which they obtained on Sunday night.

There is a chance some of the emails could be duplicates of those they have already seen, but investigators could also find it is a trove of messages Clinton deleted from her server.

Abedin told colleagues she has no idea how the emails ended up on her husband's computer, and insists she rarely used it.

The Washington Post reported that her lawyers didn't hand over the device because they didn't think it contained any of her emails.

The FBI swooped in on Weiner in September after DailyMail.com revealed he had sent explicit messages and graphic pictures to a 15-year-old girl

Conflicting reports suggest the emails could either have been sent from Abedin to Clinton, forwarded between Abedin's accounts so she could more easily print them off, or duplicates of emails already investigated by the FBI earlier this year.

As she stayed off the campaign trail in one of the campaign's critical final days - the thid day in a row - Abedin may have to contend with some of her sworn statements in a Judicial Watch lawsuit, when she got asked how she went about searching for records she turned over to the State Department.

'I looked for all the devices that may have any of my State Department work on it and returned — returned — gave them to my attorneys for them to review for all relevant documents. And gave them devices and paper,' Abedin said.

The FBI swooped in on Weiner in September after DailyMail.com revealed he had sent explicit messages and graphic pictures to a 15-year-old girl

Asked what devices she handed over, Abedin replied: 'If memory serves me correctly, it was two laptops, a BlackBerry, and some files that I found in my apartment, Abedin said.

The devices were requested as part of a lawsuit by the conservative watchdog Judicial Watch and were later reviewed by the FBI.

Abedin then told Judicial Watch attorney Ramona Cotca that she was 'not involved in the process' of selecting what documents on her devices would be given to the State Department.

She said she asked her attorneys 'to find whatever they thought was relevant and appropriate, whatever was their determination as to what was a federal record'.

'And they did,' she added. 'They turned the materials in, and I know they did.'

Abedin, one of Clinton's most trusted aides, said she conducted 'the majority' of her work at her computer and Blackberry but also gave her attorneys the login and password to her personal 'Clintonmail.com' account.

ANTHONY WEINER SEXTING SCANDAL The FBI, the New York Police Department, and US attorneys in New York and North Carolina opened investigations into Weiner's conduct in late September, after DailyMail.com exclusively reported on Sept. 21 that the former politician carried on a months-long online relationship with a 15-year-old high school girl. Weiner exchanged flirtatious and sexually-charged messages with the teen for months after the girl struck up a conversation with him on Twitter in January. Weiner told the girl he woke up 'hard' after thinking about her, sent her shirtless photos, and complimented her body. He also encouraged her to talk to him on the video-chat application Skype. The girl alleged that during these Skype conversations, Weiner asked her to get undressed and touch herself. She claimed he also asked her to dress up in school girl outfits and pretend he was her teacher and brought up 'rape fantasies.' Weiner issued a statement to the Dailymail.com apologizing for 'repeatedly demonstrate[ing] terrible judgment about the people I have communicated with online and the things I have sent.' In one particularly lewd message, he told the teen: 'I would bust that tight p***y so hard and so often that you would leak and limp for a week.' Advertisement

She said she relied on her State Department email for the 'vast majority' of her work, but admitted there were occasions she used the Clintonmail.com account for 'State-related matters'.

The latest development in the Abedin drama came on a dramatic day in Washington and on the campaign trail as a result of Friday's bombshell.

Clinton moved to distance herself from Abedin, referring to the woman she had called a second daughter as 'one of my staffers'.

Instead she made her attack directly about Comey and the FBI, accusing it of acting in a partisan manner and influencing the election.

That was echoed by Harry Reid, the Senate minority leader, who wrote to Comey asking if he was breaking the Hatch Act.

But shortly after Clinton's attack on Comey, the White House slapped down Reid and starkly contradicted the Democratic candidate, calling Comey a man of 'integrity' and 'principle' - and saying that the president did not believe the FBI boss was trying to influence the election.

Instead, said press secretary Josh Earnest, he was in a 'tight spot' and had acted in line with his 'integrity'.

Sources then told Reuters of the extraordinary confrontation between Comey and his boss, the attorney-general Loretta Lynch, before he wrote to Congress with the Clinton email bombshell.

It emerged that she had said she did not believe that he should reveal the development - but when he asked if she was going to order him not to write to Congress, she backed down and did not give such an order.

Donald Trump, on the campaign trail, was ebullient, saying for the second day 'than you Anthony Weiner' and using it to boost the feeling of momentum he has gained in recent days.