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Attorney General Objected to FBI's Clinton Email Letter; Biden: "I Should Not Comment on Anthony Weiner"; Biden: FBI Should Release Newly Found E-mails in Clinton Case; Biden: Biden Confident Clinton Will Win Pennsylvania; Trump's Bigger Challenge To Get 270 Electoral Votes; FBI Reviewing Newly Found Emails Related To Clinton Case; Trump Cheers New FBI Review Of Emails Related To Clinton Case; Witnesses: Thousands Of Civilians Rounded Up By ISIS. Aired 11a-Noon ET

Aired October 29, 2016 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[11:00:00] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: -- and that you all have a terrific morning.

More of the same now. All right. Thanks so much.

It's the 11:00 Eastern hour, I'm Fredricka Whitfield. NEWSROOM starts right now.

And let's begin with this breaking news. In the resurrected Clinton e-mail scandal, FBI Director James Comey disregarding his superiors making that bombshell announcement that the FBI would review its investigation into Hillary Clinton's private server. CNN now learning that Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates objected to Comey sending that letter to U.S. Congress.

This is all happening just now, 10 days until the election, and Clinton is demanding the FBI immediately release the full and complete facts of the review.

We do know that the e-mails being examined are part of a sexting investigation into Anthony Weiner, a former Congressman, who is the estranged husband of Clinton's long-time aide, Huma Abedin.

So let's bring in CNN Investigations Correspondent Chris Frates. So, Chris, what more can you tell us about Comey's decision, how he went about it, and why the Attorney General and others advised him against this?

CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Fred. Well, what we're learning this morning from our own CNN Justice Reporter Evan Perez is, in fact, that Attorney General Loretta Lynch objected to and was angered by the FBI Director Comey's decision to send Congress a letter outlining how he's handling these newly recovered e-mails.

And in that letter, Comey wrote, quote, in connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of e-mails that appear pertinent to the investigation. He went on in that letter to say, "The FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these e-mails to determine whether they contain classified information as well as to assess their importance to our investigation."

Now, yesterday, Comey defended his decision to alert lawmakers to the investigation when he sent a letter to FBI employees. And in that letter, he acknowledged that it was unusual for the Bureau to discuss ongoing investigations, but in this particular case, he felt an obligation to do so largely because he had testified repeatedly in front of Congress about the probe.

Now, both Trump and Clinton have called on Comey to release all the information he has before the election. But, you know, there's a lot of documents here to review, Fred. And that review will likely continue past the election.

And Comey's decision to put Clinton's e-mail controversy back in the spotlight only 10 days before the election really could reshape the race. In fact, the most recent CNN poll of polls, which was done before all this news broke yesterday afternoon, it showed Clinton leading Trump by five points nationally, 47-42. So we'll have to wait and see if this news, this big bombshell which reignited the whole Clinton e-mail controversy, Fred, whether that changes the dynamics of this race.

WHITFIELD: And both Clinton and Trump responded to this yesterday. Any expectation about today, especially after Hillary Clinton pressed James Comey to come out with more detail asking for a fuller evaluation of this end of the investigation?

FRATES: Well, look, I think we'll certainly hear from Donald Trump. He's in Colorado today. He's out in Golden, and he's going to make this, I imagine, part of his stump speech. He hit it hard yesterday. In fact, he tweeted this morning saying, you know, we have a big day today but nothing could be bigger than yesterday, a clear reference to this e-mail news.

And, of course, the Clinton campaign trying to contain this, trying to say we don't even know what these e-mails say. Perhaps they're duplicates, perhaps there won't be any news here. The Clinton folks saying we're confident that it's not going to change what Director Comey decided in July, which was, essentially, that there was no criminality here but certainly some bad judgment on behalf of then Secretary Clinton, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Chris Frates, thank you so much.

All right. Let's talk more about this. Let me bring in Jamie Rubin. He is the Clinton campaign senior media advisor for national security affairs.

All right. So, Jamie, good to see you. So we know that Hillary Clinton impressed upon the FBI to release fuller detail. What's your understanding as to whether the Clinton campaign feels that Comey had an obligation to even share with the Clinton camp what he was informing members of Congress?

JAMIE RUBIN, SENIOR MEDIA ADVISOR FOR NATIONAL SECURITY AFFAIRS, HILLARY FOR AMERICA: Well, I don't want to speak for Secretary Clinton or anyone else about Mr. Comey. Look, I think, for years to come, lawyers and constitutional scholars are going to look at this question because you have a classic dilemma.

On the one hand, Mr. Comey is desperate to protect his reputation for integrity, so he's providing an additional detail, and this is the part of the letter that I wish would get more attention, to determine whether or not -- think about that, whether or not -- this information is significant at all. It may be not significant at all. It could be just duplicates. It could be a lot of things. But we have no way of knowing whether it's significant.

Now, that, on the one hand --

[11:05:13] WHITFIELD: Which goes to the question of whether he should have sent the letter when he did, whether it was premature to send the details even, when Comey said it was unclear what was in this material.

RUBIN: Exactly. And that's why Mrs. Clinton, who's fully confident that there is no e-mail that's going to change the fundamental conclusion, and that's really the second point I was going to make.

We have no reason -- think about this, no reason -- to think that the fundamental conclusion of the FBI, that the case shouldn't have further action, will be changed. We have no reason to do that. And none of the leaks and all the back and forth between the Senate and House Committees and the FBI, no one is suggesting that there's any reason to think the conclusion, no further action, is going to be changed.

So, in many ways, this may end up being a procedural question where, in the face of an election, the democracy of the United States, Comey's commitment to protect, defend the constitution of the United States -- that is our democracy -- came up against his desire to protect his reputation for fully informing the Committees. We don't know why he did this. We don't know whether there's anything significant. And, frankly, we have no reason to think there is anything significant.

WHITFIELD: So the flip side to that is, had Comey not said anything, whether it be to members of Congress or even by way of this letter, not publicized it, which is what has resulted, that he might be accused of suppressing information that the American voters should know leading up to the November 8th.

RUBIN: Well, exactly. And what's the information? The information is that he doesn't know whether there's anything significant in these e-mails. That's what he would be suppressing. The question of whether or not anything significant is in them.

If you can't answer the question of whether it's significant -- and I would play a little bit of a vocabulary word here. The word "pertinent" which is what everyone got excited about means relevant. Doesn't mean it's significant, doesn't mean it's important. And he said it, "pertinent." OK, pertinent, but is it significant? Does it have any chance of impacting the conclusion of this case? Mrs. Clinton has said she made a mistake about this. The voters have

understood that all the little pieces of the puzzle connected to these e-mails had been played out over and over again in the media, with Congressional Committees, little details, little squiggles put out, perhaps, by the FBI in this case. And yet, even after all of that, the larger question is that Donald Trump is genuinely dangerous. And why everyone has to think this will have an impact, I don't understand.

WHITFIELD: And at this juncture, again, these e-mails were discovered and brought to James Comey's attention by FBI agents on Thursday, saying this is material that surfaced as a result of looking into former Congressman Anthony Weiner's, you know, dialogue e-mails and that involving his wife, Huma Abedin.

So what's your understanding or can you enlighten us further on something that Sean Spicer, you know, with the Trump camp said earlier about a document that, as a State Department employee, Huma Abedin, would have signed this document which would have revealed or handed over any kind of electronic mail as it relates to a State Department material during her time there? What's your understanding of that and does everyone have to sign that?

RUBIN: Well, I worked for the State Department for eight years.

WHITFIELD: Right.

RUBIN: And when I left the State Department, I didn't sign such a document. Not everybody signs such a document.

WHITFIELD: You did not?

RUBIN: No, I don't remember doing that. Now, listen, this is the point. The Trump campaign is trying to create a lot of smoke, trying to create issues that aren't there.

Mrs. Clinton didn't send these e-mails. Other reporters, a key reporter, Pete Williams from NBC, has confirmed that. This has nothing to do with WikiLeaks. And there's no reason to think that any of this information will change the conclusion the FBI reached long ago. So this is just another twist that is being blown wildly out of proportion.

And I suspect, when we look back on it and we see the potential it could have had on our democracy, changing voters days before an election, we are going to realize that this was a massive tempest in a tiny, tiny tea cup.

WHITFIELD: And if indeed it helps underscore that this has no nothing to do with Clinton's, you know, behavior via e-mail or anything done inappropriately, but if it perhaps does unveil that Huma Abedin or anyone else working closely with Hillary Clinton did do something inappropriate, does it mean a separation between Hillary Clinton and Huma?

[11:10:11] RUBIN: Well, look, to go into this speculation about hypothetical questions based on information which may be insignificant -- insignificant, meaning of no importance. Comey is laying out very lively possibility that this is insignificant, this whole thing, insignificant.

And I think people need to focus a little more on that and a lot less on Donald Trump trying to divert attention from his being a sexual predator and a dangerous man who would be a danger to the world if he ever got his hands on the powers of the Commander-in-Chief. And this e-mail issue we're talking about today is a tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of the risk the world would be taking to have Donald Trump as President.

But they're thrilled because this vague letter has caused confusion. And that's why, imagine this, Mrs. Clinton is so confident there is nothing out there that poses any risk that she is urging immediate publication and release of all this information.

So I think people need to think about that. Think about the fact that Comey acknowledges this may be insignificant, insignificant, and then compare that to the truly dramatic and significant actions of Donald Trump over the last several weeks.

WHITFIELD: And then insignificant or not, do you believe that this reporting of this matter will directly impact the outcome of Election Day 10 days from now?

RUBIN: Well, first of all, no one will ever know, and I think we should acknowledge that now. And so, therefore, it's kind of not really that useful to speculate.

But I think Mrs. Clinton said it very well. She knows she made a mistake about these e-mails. This has been played out for thousands of hours with thousands of people's man hours, with hundreds of news stories for a year and a half now. Voters who think that this mistake justifies not voting for her have made that decision long ago because what we're facing here is a choice, a real choice, between this mistake with all its -- as the FBI concluded no reason to take the case forward as compared to a man who's demonstrably unfit for office.

You know, the American people need to think about one little fact. The President of the United States individually, with no check and balance, no capability to have anyone tell him yes or no, can order the use of nuclear weapons, and a military officer would have to comply with the President's order, Donald Trump's orders, or he would be court-martialed. Do we really want to give that power to someone with such thin skin, who gets in lawsuits with everyone who walks, who basically behaves like a young man who's a bully, who's crude, who aggresses women?

I don't think, when this is all taken together, all the hours and time we've spent on an e-mail question where Mrs. Clinton has acknowledged she made a mistake and there is no further action by the authorities, as compared to all the damage and all the danger and all the risk associated with Donald Trump.

WHITFIELD: All right, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jamie Rubin, thank you for your time. Appreciate it.

RUBIN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Straight ahead, the Vice President defending Hillary Clinton. Watch his reaction when he is told where these e- mails and how these e-mails were found.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I don't know where this e-mail -- where these e-mails came from. I don't --

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN HOST: Apparently Anthony Weiner.

BIDEN: Well, oh God, Anthony Weiner. I should not comment on Anthony Weiner.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. What else the Vice President said about the disgraced Congressman and about the Clinton e-mail scandal. All of that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:17:21] WHITFIELD: Vice President Joe Biden says he is not a big fan of disgraced Congressman Anthony Weiner. His comments coming after the FBI's investigation of newly found e-mails tied Hillary Clinton's private server. Those e-mails were found on devices belonging to top Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her disgraced husband, Anthony Weiner.

Biden talked with CNN's Michael Smerconish about that plus his reason on why he didn't run for President and why he believes Clinton will win his home state of Pennsylvania.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SMERCONISH: Thank you for this privilege.

BIDEN: Oh, I'm happy to be with you, Michael. Really.

SMERCONISH: You know that I have to ask you about FBI Director Comey and this letter.

BIDEN: Yes.

SMERCONISH: He says that new e-mails appear pertinent to the investigation of Secretary Clinton's private servers. How concerned are you about the impact this is going to have on the election?

BIDEN: Look, you know that the FBI works for the administration. I'm not allowed to comment at all. I know nothing about it. I just found out today. I know that Hillary just had -- I was told Hillary just had a press conference saying release the e-mails. I think the quicker they release the e-mails for the public to see them, the better off. And I have confidence in Hillary.

SMERCONISH: You're the former chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. You're an attorney, Syracuse law school, smart guy. The language of this perplexes me.

He says, "The FBI cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant, and I cannot predict how long it will take us to complete this additional work." Did he just put his thumb on the scale? Dianne Feinstein is saying he played right into Donald Trump's hands.

BIDEN: Well, I'm not going to comment. Look, that's the same language he used before.

SMERCONISH: But then why write the letter?

BIDEN: Well, because -- I don't know why. I can't read his mind. But, look, I found him to be a straight guy. He's been -- he's a tough guy. He's a Republican, but he's always been straight. And I'm confident that, you know, this will turn out fine.

SMERCONISH: What worries me, Mr. Vice president, is that folks are going to go to the polls or have already gone to the polls and they don't know what to make of this. They're in the dark. What should happen now?

BIDEN: Well, I think it's unfortunate. I think Hillary, if she said what I'm told she said, is correct. They should release the e-mails for the whole world to see. The whole world to see.

They can continue their investigation. It won't -- to the best of my knowledge, it won't prejudice the investigation. But that's sort of the stilted language the agency always uses. And it doesn't mean anything and so it's unfortunate.

SMERCONISH: I'd be remiss if I didn't note that, if she had released all the e-mails from the get-go, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

[11:20:03] BIDEN: Well, that's true. But I don't know where these e- mails came from. I don't --

SMERCONISH: Apparently Anthony Weiner.

BIDEN: Well, oh God. Anthony Weiner. I should not comment on Anthony Weiner. I'm not a big fan. And I wasn't before he got in trouble, so I shouldn't comment on Anthony Weiner.

SMERCONISH: One more question on this. Is this the kind of story that makes Joe Biden say, dammit, I should have run.

BIDEN: Michael, the only reason I didn't run had nothing to do with -- I thought I could beat Hillary. I thought I could beat anybody that ran. No one should run for president unless they think they can do that. I didn't run for one simple overarching reason. My son was dying and

he died. That's the total reason. I mean, I have great respect for Hillary. I have great respect for other people who have run. But you don't make a decision based on the other person. I thought that, at the time, the issues the country's facing were right in my wheelhouse. I didn't not run because Hillary was running. I didn't run because my son is not here, period.

SMERCONISH: If Americans go to the polls and there's an open question as to whether she's under investigation, wouldn't that mean there's an open question as to whether she faces some punishment down the road?

BIDEN: I guess technically, but look, I don't -- I can't believe that -- the answer is I just think these things have been blown out of proportion. I think the easiest way to do it is just release the e- mails.

SMERCONISH: OK. You don't want to be her Secretary of State, I'm told. This was a big issue --

BIDEN: No. Look --

SMERCONISH: -- earlier today that came up and --

BIDEN: I will do anything that she wants if she's elected President to help her, but I'm not looking to be in the administration. It's time for me to move on.

SMERCONISH: Your family is from, you were there until the third grade, Scranton.

BIDEN: Yes.

SMERCONISH: Both my parents were from Hazleton. So we're --

BIDEN: Oh, I know Hazleton well.

SMERCONISH: We're both of coal cracker Pennsylvania stock, right.

BIDEN: That's right.

SMERCONISH: It's Trump country. It would be Biden country if you were in this. So you're not united in policy with Donald Trump.

BIDEN: No.

SMERCONISH: So what's the commonality and why can't she win?

BIDEN: I think what's happening is that --

SMERCONISH: With those folks.

BIDEN: I think she's going to end up -- I think we're going to win Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. She's going to win. And the reason is that, look, people are upset and angry. They hate the dysfunction of Washington. Trump comes along and talks about how he is going to change all that. He's this new breath of fresh air. And then people started to see who he is.

Look, in Scranton and Hazleton, if anybody in your household or your neighborhood talked about, I'm famous, I can go grab a woman anywhere I want when I want it, they'd get the living stuffing knocked out of them. Your parents would have the end of it. That would be the end of it.

People are beginning to figure out. Those same people are the same people who have basic, decent values. And I think that's going to trump, no pun intended, their concern about Hillary.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's talk more now about Vice President Biden's interview with our political panel.

Right now with me is Matt Lewis. He's a CNN political commentator and a senior contributor to "The Daily Caller." Good to see you. Also with me, politics editor for theroot.com and Morgan State University Professor Jason Johnson. Good to see you as well.

All right. So, Matt, you first. You know, Biden, you know, is repeatedly saying that Clinton's, you know, call for the FBI to release the e- mails is something that needs to happen. Will that be influential?

MATT LEWIS, SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR, THE DAILY CALLER: Well, I don't think so. But, I mean, look, I think a couple of things here are really important to talk about.

One, we live in a world right now where there's a lot of questioning about elites, about the media. Is the media telling us the truth? Institutions like the media, like government, people don't trust them. So I think if Director Comey had not gone public with this, it was going to leak out eventually. It would have stoked further doubts about, you know, the honesty and the integrity of government.

If Hillary Clinton didn't want to be going through this, you know, a week before the election, she shouldn't have deleted 30,000 e-mails using BleachBit. She shouldn't have set up a personal server.

So this is a really weird spot we find ourselves in, but I guess there's nothing more 2016 than what we're going through right now, right?

WHITFIELD: Well, Jason, isn't the issue too about timing and being, I guess, transparent as possible with all the information at once?

JASON JOHNSON, POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR, MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY: Yes. Fred, this is grotesquely unprofessional, and I've thought this all along about this e-mail issue.

First off, we have to remember, why are we even discussing Hillary Clinton's e-mails? This has to do with the Republicans' investigation into this crazy conspiracy theory about Benghazi. And I've always felt, and I think a lot of the American people feel the same way, look, if Hillary Clinton's use of e-mails resulted in the endangerment of our troops, if it had some Mission Impossible knock list that got our spies or soldiers captured in Russia, then I would be the first person saying that she should be in prison for this. But this has been going on for a year. Nothing has been found.

[11:25:08] And it's incredibly irresponsible for Comey to say, well, there may or may not be something in this, we'll discuss it. That's like saying, well, we think Barack Obama's name might be in the Ashley Madison hack. We'll get back to you in a couple of weeks. Highly irresponsible. He should have done the investigation before the announcement.

WHITFIELD: So, Matt, you know, this seems like a really uncomfortable situation for Biden because he is obviously advocating for Hillary Clinton, saying, you know, I'll do whatever it is that she would want me to do but then kind of leaving the door open for, you know, politics later. But, you know, do you expect that, you know, Biden will, I guess, either remain in politics or, you know, really remain in Clinton's corner as this unfolds?

LEWIS: Well, I think he'll remain in Clinton's corner for one reason that's pretty obvious, which is that liberals and Democrats always stick together.

You know, I've come on your show, I was on your show last week and two weeks ago, attacking Donald Trump. I was calling out Donald Trump and I'm a conservative. But that's what -- I try to be intellectually honest. But you're not going to find a lot of liberals or Democrats ever criticizing Hillary Clinton, even though she obviously set up a private server, jeopardized our security, claims she either didn't know what confidential information was, didn't know what a "C" stood, confidential, classified. She's the Secretary of State.

I think this is a real issue. And, look, I don't know if it's going to impact the presidential election, but I think it could certainly impact the U.S. Senate races where voters might have a chance to put a check on Hillary Clinton and to elect or keep a Republican Senate to kind of hold her accountable.

WHITFIELD: Jason, is this a turning point?

JOHNSON: No, I don't think this is a turning point at all. What I got out of a very good interview between Michael and Joe Biden is, he is having one of those like Lethal Weapon, Roger Murtaugh. He is too old for this. Like Joe Biden is like, I cannot believe we're having this discussion. Can we just have a presidential election?

And I think that's what's key here. The vast majority of people have already decided how they feel. I am a political scientist. I theoretically don't believe in undecided voters. I think most people already knew how they were going to vote one way or another.

There's probably going to be a change in the polls on Monday, but at the end of the day, people are going to make their decision in this election. Do they think Hillary is more qualified? Do they think Donald Trump is more qualified? And by all indicators, it seems like the majority of Americans seem to think Hillary Clinton is qualified. Last second e-mails aren't going to change that.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jason Johnson, Matt Lewis, let's keep it right there. Thanks so much.

JOHNSON: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: All right. Meantime, polls are showing Donald Trump trailing Hillary Clinton nationally. So why did he campaign in one rural part of Maine? Straight ahead, how this area could become one of the deciding factors in this race for the White House.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, it's too soon to know if the latest Hillary Clinton e-mail controversy will hurt her in the polls, but with just ten days now to go, she is leading in the CNN polling average with 47 percent to Trump's 42 percent.

As CNN's David Chalian points out, Donald Trump's biggest challenge is finding a path to the 270 Electoral College votes need to win the White House.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: We've been talking a lot about Donald Trump's very narrow path to 270 electoral votes, and it was clearly on display if you looked at his travel schedule on Friday. He went to New Hampshire, Maine, and Iowa, a total of 11 electoral votes at play there, but he needs them all.

Take a look. This is our battleground map where we start right now. Remember, if we give Donald Trump every remaining battleground state, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina and Ohio, I'm even giving him that one electoral vote in Nebraska that's up for grabs, that gets him to 265 electoral votes.

So he was in New Hampshire on Friday. Look here. If he gets New Hampshire, that's 269 electoral votes, but why was he in Maine? Because he went to Maine's second congressional district, which they award their electoral votes by congressional district to pick up one electoral vote.

That electoral vote gets him to 270 if he's able to win that electoral vote in Maine. This is Donald Trump's path to 270. Run the board, flip New Hampshire, win that Maine electoral vote which has a lot of white, non-college educated voters, Trump voters, where they really think they can pick that up and they think that's what puts them over the hurdle. WHITFIELD: All right, Donald Trump says the FBI's review of newly found e-mails tied to Hillary Clinton's private server is, quote, "Bigger than Watergate." We expect to hear more from him in a few hours.

And next, how Trump is trying to capitalize on the scandal and how it could affect the race just ten days away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:36:33]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. CNN has breaking news in the renewed Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal. FBI Director James Comey went above his superiors to make that bombshell announcement that the FBI would review its investigation into Hillary Clinton's private server.

CNN now learning that Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates objected to Comey sending that letter to U.S. Congress.

And now with just ten days until the election, Clinton is demanding the FBI immediately release the full and complete facts of the review.

We do know that the newly found e-mails being examined are part of the sexting investigation into Anthony Weiner, a former congressman, who is the estranged husband of Clinton's long-time aide, Huma Abedin.

So CNN's Pamela Brown shows us how this story developed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The e-mails that prompted the new probe were on a device being examined as part of the Anthony Weiner sexting investigation according to law enforcement sources.

Weiner was recently separated from top Hillary Clinton aide, Huma Abedin. In the letter sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Comey writes, quote, "In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of e-mails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation."

He went on to say, "The FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these e-mails to determine whether they contain classified information as well as to assess their importance to our investigation."

The e-mails in question are not from Hillary Clinton but were sent or received by Abedin, according to a law enforcement official. This comes just three months after Comey told Congress the investigation into Hillary Clinton's private e-mail server was complete.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did Hillary Clinton break the law?

JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: In connection with her use of the e-mail server? My judgment is that she did not.

BROWN: Law enforcement sources say the newly discovered e-mails did not surface from the FBI investigation into hacked Clinton campaign e- mails released by Wikileaks or the Clinton Foundation.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I need to open with a very critical breaking news announcement.

BROWN: Republicans immediately pounced. Donald Trump celebrating the news in front of a cheering crowd in New Hampshire. And Speaker Paul Ryan tweeting, "Yet again Hillary Clinton has nobody but herself to blame.

She was entrusted with some of our nation's most important secrets and she betrayed that trust by carelessly mishandling highly classified information. I renew my call for the director of national intelligence to suspend all classified briefings for Secretary Clinton until this matter is fully resolved."

Comey's announcement potentially reversing course from the FBI's previous decisions.

COMEY: Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.

BROWN: Now the question is, could that change?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Director Comey said in his letter to Congress that he doesn't know when this review of the additional emails will wrap up, but there's a strong likelihood that won't happen until after the election.

Now, as for the timing of this letter, we're told that Director Comey found out about the additional e-mails Thursday afternoon and felt compelled to share this information with Congress after he had already given sworn testimony that the investigation had been closed. Pamela Brown, CNN, Washington.

[11:40:00]WHITFIELD: All right, Donald Trump taking delight in the new review of e-mails possibly related to Hillary Clinton's private server. We expect to hear from him later on today.

But already he has tweeted, "I am in Colorado. Big day planned, but nothing can be as big as yesterday. So how now will this impact the race? And what are the possible legal implications?

I'm joined by CNN political commentator, Matt Lewis, CNN legal analyst, Laura Coates, and former deputy independent counsel, Robert Bittman. Good to see all of you.

All right, so Matt, to you first. Even though we don't have complete clarity, is this already helping the Trump campaign? MATT LEWIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Absolutely, because, you know, in politics it's not so much about what you say on a given day, it's about what the media narrative is, what the news cycle is about.

If the election is about Donald Trump, he loses. So when the election is about Donald Trump's controversial "Access Hollywood" or despicable "Access Hollywood" comments, he's losing.

When the conversation is about Hillary Clinton and her trustworthiness and her honesty and her transparency, she loses. The problem for Donald Trump is he likes to be the center of attention. It's actually the wrong move politically, but he wants to be the center of attention.

My advice to Donald Trump would be shut up. Don't interfere with your opponent when they're in the process of committing suicide. Trump should go -- sort of go dormant here and let this story play out.

WHITFIELD: Laura, how much of this is already hurting Clinton?

LAURA COATES, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, you know, I think politically speaking, we can certainly hypothesize this is actually hurting her a great deal. But the problem is, take a step back. Legally nothing has changed for Hillary Clinton from what Comey talked about in July.

There's still no information that she had any ill intent or bad intent that would legally jeopardize her. What she may have done in this case, we don't know from the e-mails, it's still very vague and a generic description.

But it may have an impact politically. But in an actual court of law, Comey's statement by being vague, by not talking about whether the e- mails even came from Hillary Clinton and we know they did not, we have no indication that it will actually change his inquiry.

And remember, Fredricka, this is a problem of Comey's own making. When he had a press conference back in July to discuss the basis for the FBI's proposal to the Justice Department that they not proceed with charges, he inserted himself in a way that totally diverged from any protocol we've seen before.

In doing so, he's repeatedly had to kind of walk back those comments or try to clarify them. And his continued effort to do so is very, very odd for a prosecutor and very, very inconvenient, to say the least, for Hillary Clinton.

WHITFIELD: So, Robert, Comey said he didn't want to be in the middle of it, but now he's very much in the middle of it. So how unusual, inappropriate, strange, is it in your view that he would seek the advice of a Loretta Lynch, who objected to it, but then proceed anyway?

ROBERT BITTMAN, FORMER DEPUTY INDEPENDENT COUNSEL: Well, we have to remember, Fredricka, that the director of the FBI is a subordinate of the attorney general and so that part is not unusual. What is unusual, I think, is that if the attorney general and the deputy attorney general in this case both objected to what the director did, they should have put a stop to it. They could have. The director --

WHITFIELD: How?

BITTMAN: How? They could have said I order you not to release this information to the Congress and he is a subordinate of the attorney general.

WHITFIELD: So it's not an issue of respecting the opinions, consulted, got the advice or conclusion and then it would be presumed that that would be honored?

BITTMAN: Well, just like any other boss, they could defer to their subordinate, but the boss can take responsibility and say, look, I'm the boss here and I disagree with you in this case and you shall not report this to the Congress or anybody else until these e-mails, for example, are reviewed.

WHITFIELD: So, Matt, it's unclear how long this review will take. You know, it would seem that it's influential whether it's in a matter of days or if it's in a matter of weeks.

LEWIS: Yes, absolutely. Look, I think that we have now it looks like thousands of e-mails. Hillary Clinton says just put them out there. Well, obviously these e-mails need to be vetted. There could be sensitive classified or confidential information. You can't just put them out there.

Having said that, I think it would behoove the director and the FBI to expedite this process as much as possible. We should have -- why can't we have this out in a week? Why can't they go through and before election --

By the way, this is another reason why early voting is a horrible idea today, they said almost half the people in Arizona already voted before we know what is about to come out. Look, you can't dump them out. You have to vet them, but the sooner we know, the better.

COATES: Fredricka --

WHITFIELD: Almost 20 million people have voted. Go ahead, Laura.

COATES: That's exactly the reason that Director Comey was premature in his disclosure to the Senate about these e-mails. You can imagine the scenario where a prosecutor, where a police officer simply dumps to the media or to Congress or politicians and says here are things I'm thinking about investigating.

I don't know what's in this box, but it may be something, I'm not telling you it is even relevant. We don't allow people to be tarred and feathered. We do in the media have a court of public opinion, but the idea that U.S. director of the FBI, not an arm of the prosecutorial arm of the Department of Justice, he has no discretion to ultimately decide whether to charge or not.

And the reason my colleague was talking about having vetted is why he should have remain silent for now. WHITFIELD: All right, we'll leave it for there. Laura Coates, Matt Lewis, Robert Bittman, thank you so much. Appreciate it. We'll be right back.

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WHITFIELD: Welcome back. Iraqi troops are tightening the news on ISIS fighters as they liberate more towns on their way into Mosul. In one town today, they killed 35 ISIS militants including suicide bombers.

There are growing concerns over witness accounts that ISIS has rounded up thousands of civilians and moved them inside the city. CNN's Michael Holmes is in nearby Irbil, Iraq. So Michael, what more do you know about what's happening?

[11:50:05]MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, they are making advances on the battlefield. It is not uniform, though. The town you mentioned is about 25 kilometers from the outskirts of Mosul.

In places, Iraqi and Kurdish forces can actually see the outskirts. They have to bring it up and a more consolidated position. The Americans were saying, in fact, on Friday night, some units would pause and wait for others to catch up.

Iraqi commanders rejected that immediately and contradicted it and said that's inaccurate and they are pushing on. One important development, popular mobilization unit, they are Shia paramilitaries.

They announced today that they are launching operations to the west of Mosul. Now that's going to put thousands more fighters into an area of concern.

It is an area that ISIS controls and from which they have been able to cross back and forth from Mosul into Syria where, of course, is the ISIS de facto capital, Raqqa.

Now you did mention this, too, increasing numbers of civilians, tens of thousands being forced from their homes on the outskirts of the city, basically put into trust and taken into the center of town and dumped there.

We are talking women, children and the elderly, some in poor condition, left without food or water or place to stay, and just being dumped there as human shields.

We also just got word a short time ago that another 70 men, former security officers in Mosul were rounded up, taken out today, shot and killed by ISIS -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Michael Holmes, appreciate it. We'll be right back after this.

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[11:55:25] WHITFIELD: All right, coming up on "PARTS UNKNOWN," Anthony Bourdain takes you to the lone star state. It is not just food. He's getting a look at amazing cars. Here is a sneak peek at this week's new episode.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, CNN HOST, "PARTS UNKNOWN" (voice-over): L.A. may have low riders, but Houston has slab. Its own car culture with its own accompanying sound, its own chopped and screwed hip hop style.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This pretty much like one of the most classic signs of a slab. It's the Cadillac. See how you have the inside custom with the stitching. This is a complete slab.

BOURDAIN (on camera): Full recycling?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the laid back thing.

BOURDAIN (voice-over): Houston musical artist, Slim Thug and his friend called people to bring their cars over the southern part of the city.

(on camera): What are the rules?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Candy paint. Got have these kind of rims. That's what make it a complete -- and the music, you with the custom music.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: What a ride. Anthony Bourdain "PARTS UNKNOWN" airs Sunday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time right here on CNN. We'll be right back.

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