The private email server Hillary Clinton used while secretary of State re-emerged as a liability for her presidential run, as the State Department acknowledged Friday that 22 messages stored on the server contain top secret information.
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The top secret emails were referenced in a letter Intelligence Community Inspector General Charles McCullough III sent to senators saying that at least several dozen emails Clinton sent and received while she was secretary of state contained classified material at the highest levels, according to a letter obtained by McClatchy.
Because of how recklessly Clinton and her top aides handled classified information, the IC must operate under the assumption that there are copies of these 22 emails floating around – whether in the possession of current or former government officials but unaccounted for or, worse, in the possession of, say, foreign governments that managed to hack into Clinton’s unsecured private system.
But The Associated Press has learned seven email chains are being withheld in full because they contain information deemed to be “top secret”.
Further, Kirby said another 18 emails which comprised of eight distinct email chains between Clinton and US President Barack Obama, are also being withheld in full from the State Department’s release of documents. “Since first providing her emails to the State Department more than one year ago, Hillary Clinton has urged that they be made available to the public”.
The truth is that Republican presidential candidates and Democratic contender Bernie Sanders have not needed to fan the controversy arising from Clinton’s decision to use a private server and personal email account to conduct government affairs when she served as secretary of state.
The latest disclosure, confirmed by the State Department, is that some of the emails are too sensitive to be included among the many thousands of Clinton emails that have been or will be publicly released.
Meanwhile, Clinton campaign spokesman Brain Fallon called the decision to censor Clinton’s emails “overclassification run amok”. It is said that some of the emails were related to clandestine programs like drone strikes. “We feel no differently today”, Fallon said.
Even the House intelligence committee says Mrs. Clinton had to know they were classified. They are also considered the emails to be most sensitive for release.
“You can’t get information off the classified system”, Clinton said Sunday.
Even if Clinton only read, and didn’t write or forward the secret messages, she still would have been required to report classification slippages that she recognized.
Department officials would not describe the substance of the emails or say if Mrs Clinton sent any herself. And, more broadly, the State Department announcement keeps the story in the news and hands her political opponents a ready-made way to bash her on the eve of what is the most important vote of her political life.
Friday’s release is coming at an awkward time for Clinton.
The first defense doesn’t shield her from possible criminal jeopardy, but it held some promise in the court of public opinion.
Mrs Clinton, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 2016 election, has been under fire for using a private computer server for work emails while in office. She does not stand alone: The issue of adequately securing one device that employees use for business and personal information is one companies grapple with as well.
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They have asked to release the final batch messages on 29 February, which is after the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary.
