Latest On FBI's Hillary Clinton Email Investigation: DOJ Will Work 'As Expeditiously As Possible'

The Department of Justice told lawmakers in a letter sent Monday that it would work "as expeditiously as possible” to investigate new emails related to Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server.

The three-paragraph letter written by Assistant Attorney General Patrick J. Leahy was sent to the four Democratic Senators who requested more information about the investigation, which was made public by FBI Director James Comey on Friday in a vague letter to the House Judiciary Committee.

"We assure you that the Department (of Justice) will continue to work closely with the FBI and together, dedicate all necessary resources and take appropriate steps as expeditiously as possible.

Speaking for the second time since the FBI announced it was looking into a new trove of emails related to her, Clinton told an Ohio rally Monday afternoon, "There is no case here."

"Now they apparently want to look at emails of one of my staffers, and by all means they should look at them," Clinton said. "And I am sure they will reach the same conclusion they did when they looked at my emails for the last year."

"And they said it wasn't even a close call," she continued, "and I think most people have decided a long time ago what they think about all of this."

Clinton and her campaign also criticized Comey and the FBI for reports Monday that said Comey didn't release information about its investigation about Trump's ties to Russia, fearing that it was too close to election day to do so. Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook called the difference in response a "blatant double standard."

The White House earlier Monday defended Comey, calling him "a man of integrity and character and principle." White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said President Obama "doesn't believe Director Comey is trying to influence the outcome of an election" and would not "defend or criticize" Comey's actions.

Earlier in the day, two former attorneys general — a Democrat and a Republican — joined a growing chorus of former federal prosecutors criticizing Comey's announcement of the discovery of the emails found in a separate investigation.

Former Attorney General Eric Holder, who was appointed by Barack Obama, called Comey's letter "a stunning breach of protocol" that broke longstanding policies of not commenting on ongoing investigations.

"That decision was incorrect," Holder wrote in a Monday morning Washington Post op-ed. "It violated long-standing Justice Department policies and tradition. And it ran counter to guidance that I put in place four years ago laying out the proper way to conduct investigations during an election season. That guidance, which reinforced established policy, is still in effect and applies to the entire Justice Department — including the FBI."

And former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, appointed by George W. Bush, called Comey out in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece published Monday.

"Regardless of what is in the newly discovered emails, the current Justice Department will not permit a grand jury to hear evidence in this case. And because only a grand jury can constitutionally bring charges, that means no charges will be brought," Mukasey wrote. "Which is to say, we know enough to conclude that what we don't know is of little immediate relevance to our current dismal situation."

The FBI has known about the new batch of emails related to its investigation of Hillary Clinton for weeks, CNN is reporting. The emails in question don't belong to Clinton herself but to one of her closest aides, Huma Abedin. Abedin's emails were discovered on a computer belonging to Anthony Weiner, the disgraced former Congressman from New York.

That information, though, was not made clear in Comey's letter to Congress announcing the new developments, which didn't say who the emails belonged to, how the FBI found them or in what "unrelated case" the emails were found.

The vague nature of his letter to Congress, along with its timing, has raised questions about Comey's decision to drop the bombshell just 11 days before Election Day.

Abedin was not with Clinton on the campaign trail Monday as she swept through Ohio.

Patch will update this story throughout the day with the latest on this developing story.

Holder, along with dozens of former federal prosecutors, signed a letter calling Comey's decision "unprecedented."

“Many of us have worked with Director Comey; all of us respect him,” the letter says. “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.”

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, who is retiring after November's election, went several steps further. Reid wrote a letter to Comey suggesting that he may have violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activity.

"I am writing to inform you that my office has determined that these actions may violate the Hatch Act," Reid wrote in the letter. "Through your partisan actions, you may have broken the law."

As of Friday, the FBI had not yet reviewed the emails or even obtained them. By Sunday, though, it had obtained a warrant to search through the emails on Weiner's computer. The emails reportedly number in the thousands, which could make it difficult for the FBI to wrap up its new probe before Election Day.

Image via Tim Pierce, Flickr, used under Creative Commons