Hillary Clinton emails: FBI 'expands probe' into public corruption law violations

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has reportedly expanded its investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email use during her time as Secretary of State. The investigation will now look into whether a potential "intersection" of State Department business and work with her Clinton Foundation may have violated public corruption laws.

Fox News says that three unidentified intelligence sources had stated the new investigation would occur in addition to the probe into classified material found in the Democratic presidential candidate's personal server.

"The agents are investigating the possible intersection of Clinton Foundation donations, the dispensation of State Department contracts and whether regular processes were followed," said one source.

Des Moines Register chief political reporter Jennifer Jacobs reported Clinton said the claims of a new investigation by the FBI were "absolutely not true." Clinton claimed she had heard nothing from the FBI in regards to a new probe. "No, there's nothing like that that is happening," Clinton told the Register.

However, Fox News maintains that pressure within the bureau is growing to pursue Clinton's case. The right-leaning news organisation said one intelligence source claimed FBI agents would be "screaming" if the case was not pursued because "many previous public corruption cases have been made and successfully prosecuted with much less evidence than what is emerging in this investigation."

The FBI has an ongoing investigation into whether classified material was mishandled during Clinton's stint at the State Department between 2009 and 2013. A reported 1,340 emails have been deemed classified. It is unclear which of the two investigations was opened first by the bureau and whether they will be combined. According to Fox News, the public corruption inquiry dates to at least April 2015.