Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, have accused FBI Director James Comey of sitting on 'explosive' information about Donald Trump's alleged connection to Russia.

They're now demanding that information be released after Comey told Congress about emails connected to Hillary Clinton found during an investigation into Anthony Weiner's sexting scandal.

Reid also accused Comey of violating the Hatch Act, which prohibits government officials from using their position to influence elections.

'I am writing to inform you that my office has determined that these actions may violate the Hatch Act, which bars FBI officials from using their official authority to influence an election.

'Through your partisan actions, you may have broken the law,' the letter begins.

After accusing Comey of possibly committing a crime, he goes on to accuse him of knowing about a tie between Trump and Russia.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (pictured) accused FBI Director James Comey of sitting on 'explosive' information about Donald Trump's alleged connection to Russia

Reid also accused Comey (pictured) of violating the Hatch Act, which prohibits government officials from using their position to influence elections

'In my communication with you and other top officials in the national security community, it has become clear that you possess explosive information about close ties and coordination between Donald Trump, his top advisers, and the Russian government - a foreign interest openly hostile to the United States, which Trump praises at every opportunity.

'The public has a right to know this information. I wrote to you months ago calling for this information to be released to the public. There is no danger to American interests from releasing it.

'And yet, you continue to resist calls to inform the public of this critical information,' Reid wrote in a scathing letter to Comey.

Top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform committee, representative Elijah Cummings, told the Daily Beast: 'The FBI now potentially faces a very serious credibility problem.

'In my communication with you and other top officials in the national security community, it has become clear that you possess explosive information about close ties and coordination between Donald Trump, his top advisers, and the Russian government,' Reid wrote in a letter to Comey (pictured)

Democrats have long suspected the FBI is also investigating Trump's (right) ties to Russia

There have also been 17 U.S. intelligence agencies that have unanimously agreed that senior Russian government officials have ordered campaign computers hacked (Russian president Putin pictured)

'If it turns out that the FBI is in fact investigating - or planning to investigate - (former Trump campaign manager) Paul Manafort because of his dealings with Russia, or anyone else associated with Donald Trump—and does not disclose these facts to the American people before the election—then the FBI will be accused of a double standard when those facts ultimately do come out.'

Reid didn't mince words when it came to accusing Comey of a double standard and said in the letter it is clear that one exists.

He wrote that Comey had no problem 'rushing to publicize' innuendo about Clinton's emails 'in the most negative light possible'.

Reid accused Comey of potentially violating the Hatch Act and a memo, which was circulated in March, that made it clear all Justice Department employees were prohibited from acts that could result in the success or failure of a political candidate.

'The memo defines the political activity prohibited under the Hatch Act as “activity directed towards the success or failure of a political party, candidate for partisan political office, or partisan political group”,’ he writes.

The renewed FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's handling of classified material could take weeks because agents have found 650,000 emails on Anthony Weiner's laptop. She is seen speaking to a crowd in Miami, Florida, on Sunday

The Democratic candidate (seen with supporters in Florida on Sunday) already shows signs of slipping in the polls after a ABC News/Washington Post tracker poll revealed Trump was just one point behind. That's an 11 point change since last week

Democrats have long suspected the FBI is investigating Trump's ties to Russia.

However, Democrats feel there is little transparency at work with any alleged investigation into the Republican nominee.

Paul Manafort resigned as Trump's campaign manager after it was revealed he was doing business with ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, who is close to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Weiner, disgraced husband of Hillary's right-hand woman Huma Abedin, had his laptop seized in September after DailyMail.com exposed his sexting of a 15-year-old girl

Carter Page, a former Trump adviser, also allegedly visited two Russian government officials. Some have alleged that this is to create a channel of communication with the Kremlin, the Daily Beast reported.

There have also been 17 U.S. intelligence agencies that have unanimously agreed that senior Russian government officials have ordered campaign computers hacked, according to the site.

Reid and other Democrats have asked Comey to investigate Trump's ties to Russia in the past and the country's effort to interfere with the United States presidential election.

The Daily Beast reported that Republican congressional staff have noticed the connection to Russia in the Trump Campaign and find it concerning.

However, lawmakers have refused to move forward with an investigation.

Democrats and former federal prosecutors have slammed Comey's decision to publicly announce the inquiry into Clinton's emails on Weiner's computer, which he shared with estranged wife Huma Abedin - Clinton's top aide.

On Sunday, 100 former federal prosecutors signed an open letter written by the Clinton campaign criticizing FBI director James Comey for commenting to Congress about emails found during an investigation into Weiner's sexting scandal.

Huma Abedin is seen leaving Hillary Clinton's campaign headquarters in New York on Sunday as the scandal surrounding the email's found on her husband's laptop deepened

Abedin is seen leaving the campaign headquarters with a member of Clinton's team who has previously been seen with her son, Jordan

Among the dozens of former federal prosecutors who have added their name to the document is former Attorney General of the United States Eric Holder.

'Many of us have worked with Director Comey; all of us respect him. But his unprecedented decision to publicly comment on evidence in what may be an ongoing inquiry just eleven days before a presidential election leaves us both astonished and perplexed,' the letter says.

On Sunday, the FBI obtained a warrant to read the emails from Abedin, which were among hundreds of thousands discovered on Weiner's laptop.

Law enforcement officials confirmed that investigators gained permission to start trawling through the 650,000 emails discovered on the laptop on Sunday evening, NBC reported.

Abedin stepped out of the offices and hopped into a SUV to head back to a Manhattan apartment where she has holed up on Saturday night

Abedin remained home in New York on Saturday (pictured), after the online sexting habits of her husband, Anthony Weiner, upended her long-time boss's presidential campaign

Feds seized the laptop belonging to Weiner, Abedin's disgraced husband, in September after DailyMail.com exposed his sexting of a 15-year-old girl.

And in early October, agents told FBI heads they'd found emails from Abedin on the laptop that may have been deleted from Clinton's private server.

But their warrant did not allow them to read emails that were not linked to the Weiner investigation.

The newly reopened investigation will take time due to the sheer volume of emails to be read, the Wall Street Journal reported.

It will likely take agents until well past the election to assess how many, if any, contain classified information - leaving Clinton with the prospect of facing an ongoing investigation even if she is elected president.

This is the internal memo obtained by Fox News that Comey sent out. He noted he felt an 'obligation' to inform lawmakers about the investigation given he had testified repeatedly in recent months that the investigation was completed

The Democratic candidate already shows signs of slipping in the polls after an ABC News/Washington Post tracker poll revealed Trump was just one point behind - an 11-point change since last week.

And since Comey's shock announcement on Friday, questions have continued to mount over right-hand woman Abedin's future on the Clinton campaign.

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

Abedin has reportedly pleaded ignorance about how the emails ended up on husband Weiner's laptop.

Even worse for her situation, she 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.

If she’s found to have lied she could face up to five years in jail.

On Sunday, Clinton - no longer accompanied by Abedin - said at a Florida rally that she would not be 'knocked off course' by Friday's shocking reveal.

'I'm not stopping now, we're just getting warmed up,' she declared to a packed crowd with many gay and lesbian supporters in the city of Wilton Manors.

'We're not going to be distracted, no matter what our opponents throw at us.'

Donald Trump delivered a swift kick to disgraced former Democratic congressman Weiner on Sunday, thanking him for preserving the emails that could bring Clinton down.

The Republican presidential nominee told more than 7,000 people packed into a Las Vegas casino ballroom that he believes the FBI has recovered some of Clinton's 33,000 deleted emails.

'I have a feeling they just found a lot of them,' he said, before calling out the name of Weiner's estranged wife Abedin.

'Huma! They just found a lot of them!' he boomed. 'We never thought we were going to say "Thank you" to Anthony Weiner!'

While Clinton campaigned in Florida, Abedin was seen inside her Gramercy Park apartment in loungewear as she spent time with her mother and sister.

Abedin pictured with her estranged husband at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala in May

Abedin was pictured aboard the campaign plane with Clinton on Friday before the FBI announced they were reopening the investigation into the private email server

Clinton continues to go about the business of retail politics. When she landed in Daytona Beach, a small group greeted her with a campaign sign

Weiner's sexting investigation is a serious blow to Clinton's campaign in the tightening presidential race.

Reports say agents found thousands of emails on the shared laptop that merit further investigation.

When Clinton was Secretary of State, Abedin had email accounts on the State Department server, Hillary's controversial private server and Yahoo.

THE CLINTON EMAIL CONTROVERSY January 13 2009: Hillary Clinton's aide Justin Cooper sets up clintonemail.com domain. Huma Abedin signs off on it January 21: Clinton is sworn in as Secretary of State 18 March: Clinton stops using her BlackBerry email account and switches to the newly created hdr22@clintonemail.com account. The domain is hosted on her own private email server, set up by her aide Bryan Pagliano September 11, 2012: Four Americans are killed in attack on a U.S. base in Benghazi, Libya including Ambassador Chris Stevens February 1, 2013: Clinton steps down as secretary of state October 28, 2014: State Department demands Clinton's work-related correspondence as part of a congressional investigation into Benghazi Fall 2014: Clinton's lawyers deletes 33,000 emails which they claim are 'personal' December 5, 2014: Clinton's legal team provide roughly 30,000 emails to the State Department when they are demanded by a congressional investigation into Benghazi. March 2 2015: The New York Times breaks the news that Clinton used a personal email account to conduct government business while secretary of state July 25: Clinton says she is confident none of the emails on her private email server were classified at the time of sending and receiving August 4: The Washington Post reveals the FBI has begun looking into the security of Clinton's private email set-up September 10: Bryan Pagliano formally asserts his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination rather than answer questions from a Republican-led House committee on her email arrangements July 6, 2016: The Justice Department closes Clinton email probe and FBI Director James Comey announces the FBI won't prosecute. The decision was made by Comey because Attorney General Loretta Lynch had to recuse herself after a secret meeting with Bill Clinton October 7: WikiLeaks begins release of thousands of emails hacked from the Gmail account of John Podesta, Clinton's campaign chair October 28: FBI reopens its investigation into Clinton's server October 30: FBI obtains warrant to look at emails sent from Abedin's email account found on Anthony Weiner's laptop Advertisement

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, 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 Clinton campaign has suggested that the new-found emails are duplicates, but the law enforcement source said it's highly unlikely that all of them are.

When news emerged of the email investigation being reopened, a campaign aide said that Clinton 'took the news like a champ. We always knew there'd be a another surprise in the election.

'She's in a very good frame of mind about it. Pretty happy warrior and is quite confident we'll be able to deal with it.'

Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta, teed off on the lawman in a blistering press call on Saturday.

He said Comey's move to reexamine Clinton emails was 'long on innuendo and short on facts,' calling the reporting on the stunning developments in the presidential race 'overblown.'