Watergate journalist: FBI wouldn't revisit Clinton email probe unless docs contained 'bombshell

Carl Bernstein, an investigative journalist who rose to national prominence for his coverage of the Watergate scandal, said Friday that the FBI would not be considering reopening its investigation into Hillary Clinton unless newly-discovered evidence contained "a real bombshell."

Speaking about the issue with CNN's Brooke Baldwin, the former Washington Post reporter said Clinton's decision to use a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state is "the greatest threat" to her candidacy, calling the decision "really indefensible."

"We don't know what this means yet except that it's a real bombshell," Bernstein said of the FBI revelations. "And it is unthinkable that the director of the FBI would take this action lightly, that he would put this letter forth to the Congress of the United States, saying there is more information out there about classified emails and call it to the attention of Congress, unless it was something requiring serious investigation."

Bernstein went on to say the email issue is the Democratic presidential nominee's "achilles heel" and could be worsened by the revelations about the Clinton Foundation, which have been uncovered by documents stolen by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.

"So the confluence of all of this is bad for her as it stands now but with some knowledge she might be able to stop, turn things around, and give us some idea of what's going on in a way we might not otherwise know," he said.

News of the decision to review the Clinton investigation came from Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R), who shared via Twitter a letter bureau Director James Comey sent to Congress saying the FBI had "learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation" into the probe of the former secretary of state's email practices.

All of this comes just 11 days before voters go to the polls to cast their ballots for Clinton or her Republican rival, Donald Trump, who called the FBI's initial decision not to indict the Democratic candidate a "grave miscarriage of justice."