Hillary Clinton campaign calls for more transparency from FBI after email controversy resurfaces

Hillary for America Chair John Podesta has called for the full details to clear up any whiff of controversy so soon before the presidential election

Ms Clinton did not address the matter directly at a campaign event in Iowa after the news broke (Getty)

Hillary Clinton’s campaign has called for the FBI director to provide more details on why the agency might be considering reopening its investigation into Ms Clinton's emails.

Campaign chair John Podesta released a statement several hours after the news broke that the FBI’s investigation into disgraced congressman Anthony Wiener’s alleged involvement with a 15-year-old girl led to the discovery of emails on a government computer relating to Ms Clinton. The emails, the FBI said, pertained to the now-closed investigation into Ms Clinton's alleged misuse of her personal email server.

Ms Clinton did not address the matter directly herself when she spoke at a rally in Iowa immediately after the news broke.

Mr Comey did not say what the emails contained or how long the investigation would take, 11 days before the presidential election.

"FBI Director Comey should immediately provide the American public more information than is contained in the letter he sent to eight Republican committee chairmen," wrote Mr Podesta.

"Already, we have seen characterizations that the FBI is 'reopening' an investigation but Comey's words do not match that characterization.

"Director Comey's letter refers to emails that have come to light in an unrelated case, but we have no idea what those emails are and the Director himself notes they may not even be significant.

"It is extraordinary that we would see something like this just 11 days out from a presidential election.

"The Director owes it to the American people to immediately provide the full details of what he is now examining. We are confident this will not produce any conclusions different from the one the FBI reached in July."

In July Mr Comey said that "no reasonable prosecutor" would bring charges against Ms Clinton, even though she had shown "extreme carelessness" when it came to sending and receiving government emails on her personal server.

Mr Comey’s new statement on Friday said he was not sure whether the new emails would be significant.