FBI search warrant that may have cost Clinton election set to be reviewed

Huma Abedin says she and her husband were not shown the warrant to search their email server

Huma Abedin has claimed the FBI did not show her the warrant to search her and her estranged husband's emails (Getty Images)

Huma Abedin, the longtime aide to Hillary Clinton, has asked a US judge to allow her to review a search warrant the FBI used to gain access to emails related to Clinton's private server shortly before the presidential election.

In a letter filed in Manhattan federal court, Ms Abedin said she was never provided a copy of the warrant, nor was her estranged husband, former Democratic US Representative Anthony Weiner, whose computer contained the emails in question.

The letter was filed as a federal judge considers whether to unseal the application for the search warrant, which was obtained after FBI Director James Comey informed Congress of newly discovered emails on 28 October.

Mr Comey's letter drew new attention to a damaging issue for Ms Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, and shook up the campaign 11 days before the election won by Republican Donald Trump.

US District Judge Kevin Castel had invited affected parties to weigh in on the potential release of the search warrant application, which is being sought by Los Angeles-based lawyer Randol Schoenberg.

In their letter, Ms Abedin's lawyers said she was unable to evaluate the issue as neither she nor Mr Weiner was provided the warrant itself, despite federal rules requiring authorities to provide a warrant to a person whose property was taken.

Lawyers for Ms Clinton and Mr Weiner did not immediately respond to requests for comment, nor did the US Justice Department.

Ms Clinton used the server while she was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. Mr Comey in July had recommended to the Justice Department that no criminal charges be brought against Clinton over her handing of classified information in the emails, although saying she and her colleagues were "extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information."

In his October letter to Congress, Mr Comey said emails potentially related to the Ms Clinton server probe had been discovered in an "unrelated case."

Sources close to the investigation have said the emails were discovered during an unrelated probe into Mr Weiner following a media report that he engaged in sexually explicit phone and online messages with a 15-year-old girl.

Federal investigators got a warrant to examine the emails to see if they were related to the probe into Ms Clinton's private server. Only two days before the election, Mr Comey disclosed that the emails did nothing to change his earlier recommendation.

Reuters