State Department officials also said the agency’s Diplomatic Security and Intelligence and Research bureaus are investigating if any of the information was classified at the time of transmission, going to the heart of Clinton’s defense of her email practices.
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“In consultation with the intelligence community, we are making this upgrade and we believe it’s the prudent, responsible thing to do.”, State Department spokesman John Kirby said.
Mr. Fallon also said in the statement that the emails were probably originated on the State Department’s unclassified system before Mrs. Clinton received them and that they have been on this system for years.
However, intelligence officers told the Associated Press ahead of the release that seven email chains would be withheld in full for containing “top secret” information. “We have worked closely with our inter-agency partners on this matter, and this dialogue with the inter-agency is exactly how the process is supposed to work”, he said.
The Clinton campaign criticised the state department’s decision as the result of “bureaucratic infighting” and “over-classification run amok”, adding that the emails should be released.
The classification decision was made in conjunction with the State Department’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process for public release of Clinton’s e-mails and is not directly related to the ongoing FBI investigation of her use of her personal server.
Clinton’s campaign said in a statement that Clinton wants the emails released. “We feel no differently today”, said Brian Fallon, secretary of Hillary for America National Press.
“And second, none of the emails sent to Secretary Clinton have the mandatory markings that are required when classified information is transmitted”.
It’s unclear what information was in those emails, but it was the first time the State Department acknowledged Clinton’s email correspondence contained “top secret” information, pushing the issue back into the spotlight just days before the first votes of the 2016 election are cast.
Despite the campaign’s best efforts, Clinton has been unable to put to rest questions about her use of the private server.
On her request, thousands of those emails have been released by the State Department.
But Mr Kirby said this was not because these emails contained any classified information but was instead in order to preserve Mr Obama’s privacy while he remains in office.
Republican presidential candidates have been excoriating Clinton over the emails, arguing that she broke the law. Sen.
“I’m not willing to say it was an error in judgment because nothing I did was wrong”, she said.
Kirby also said for the first time that some emails between Clinton and President Obama have been located and will also be withheld from public release.
Emails found on Hillary Clinton’s private server jeopardized “sources, methods and lives”.
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She continued to dismiss the controversy Monday, suggesting that Republicans are politicizing it to hurt her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. In recent weeks she has more often said none of her emails were marked that way.
