FBI reopens Clinton emails case

NEW YORK (AA) – The FBI is reviewing new emails linked to Hillary Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State, the bureau’s director James Comey said in a letter Friday.

"In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear pertinent to the investigation," Comey wrote to Congress. "I am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed me on this yesterday, and I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation."

It wasn't immediately clear whether the new batch of emails belonged to Clinton.

Comey dismissed pressure last month to reopen the controversial emails probe after recommending no charges for the Democratic presidential nominee -- despite describing her as “extremely careless” at the end of a months-long FBI probe in July.

After announcing his decision not to pursue charges, Comey endured a grilling from House Republicans in a make-or-break moment for Clinton’s bid for the Oval Office.

The emails controversy has become the achilles’ heel of the Democratic campaign since it was revealed that the 2009-2013 Secretary of State was using her private email server to correspond with State Department staff, potentially exposing classified information.

After saying she did nothing wrong, Clinton eventually apologized and defended herself on numerous occasions, including during the presidential debates, by saying that there were no emails marked as classified on her server, and there was no evidence that the server had been compromised.

During the last debate, her Republican rival, Donald Trump, harped on Clinton for deleting thousands of emails and threatening legal action against her if he becomes president.