As CNN reported it, Weiner's computers were seized in early October.
"By mid-October, Comey learned investigators in the Weiner case might have found something that could have an impact on the now-closed probe into Hillary Clinton's private email server, according to one law enforcement official."
The DoJ obtained a new warrant in late October.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/30/politics/clinton-emails-fbi-abedin/index.html?adkey=bn
The public has a right to know what probable cause was shown to justify the search. Randol Schoeberg is suing the FBI to make the warrant public.
Especially now that we know for certain that there was nothing in those emails, it is very unclear how prosecutors could have met the probable cause standard. But that has also been part of the issue all along.
This from Politico on 10/31:
"'The big issue to my mind is: In order to seize evidence on the computer, it needs to be just immediately apparent that it's evidence of a crime. It's hard to know how that would be the case here,' said former federal computer-crimes prosecutor Orin Kerr, now a law professor at George Washington University. 'It sounds like the government thinks this information might be relevant and they'd like to take a look at it, but it's not immediately apparent to me that it would be evidence of a crime.'"
"The Constitution prohibits general warrants, requiring that evidence seized be expected to connect to specific crimes. So while the warrant used to seize the devices from Weiner is not public, it almost certainly contained some limitation focused on the probe into the former congressman's sexting and alleged electronic contact with an underage girl."
"Of course, if Abedin gave the FBI permission to search the newly found email cache, that might have made a second warrant unnecessary. However, since the laptop apparently belonged to Weiner, it's unclear whether Abedin's permission would have been legally sufficient unless he also consented to the search."
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/huma-abedin-emails-clinton-weiner-comey-230512
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