But The Associated Press has learned seven email chains are being withheld in full because they contain information deemed to be “top secret”.
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“Top secret” material was sent through Hillary Clinton’s private email server during her tenure as secretary of state, it was revealed Friday, just days before voters cast their first ballots in the presidential campaign. He added that the department was now investigating whether the information in them was classified at the time it passed through her private email account run on a server in her home. These are remaining confidential “to protect the president’s ability to receive unvarnished advice and counsel”, but will ultimately be released like other presidential records.
The AP reported last August that one focused on a forwarded news article about the classified USA drone program run by the Central Intelligence Agency.
And for amusement value, there’s a snarky email from Clinton aide Philippe Reines in which he chews out Washington Post reporters over a story that Clinton did not have as much White House access as Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
The State Department is releasing more emails on Friday from her time as America’s top diplomat between 2009-13. The Clinton campaign demanded that all of her emails be released by the State Department.
The emails were part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit that had compelled the State Department to release them.
The email affair came up in Thursday night’s Republican presidential debate when New Jersey Governor Chris Christie accused Mrs Clinton of putting “American intelligence officers at risk”.
Leopold’s lawyer, Ryan S. James, chastised State for moving too slowly, noting that January 29 was supposed to be the deadline for the department to complete its public release of all the emails.
Kirby also announced today that 18 emails – from 8 distinct chains – between then Secretary Clinton and President Barack Obama are being withheld from the court -ordered FOIA release, because of the law governing the release of presidential documents. Rival Democrat Bernie Sanders, however, called for the legal process reviewing the emails to “not be politicized”.
The account was not hacked or compromised, but Ms Clinton did admit using it was a “mistake”.
CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: State Department spokesman John Kirby says he will not discuss the substance of the emails.
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Clinton says she’s never sent or received any emails marked classified, Audie. Iowa Republican Senator Charles Grassley, who leads the Judiciary Committee, has sent two binders full of letters to Clinton, the State Department and the Justice Department. But critics have said it may have been a way for her to hide her communications. That would mean the last of the emails would not be released until the end of February – after the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, officials there told a federal judge this week.
