“Top secret” material was sent through US Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton’s private e-mail server during her tenure as secretary of state, it was revealed on Friday.
US Department of State spokesman John Kirby said the e-mails, which he described as “22 documents covering 37 pages” from seven e-mail chains during Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state, would therefore not be released publicly.
Another 18 e-mails, from eight e-mail chains, sent between then secretary Clinton and US President Barack Obama would also not be released, Kirby said.
Photo: AP
However, those exchanges did not contain classified information, Kirby said.
Although e-mails previously released by the State Department have been partially redacted due to the nature of the information they contained, this was the first time entire messages were withheld.
The revelation about the top secret e-mails comes three days before Clinton — the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination — goes to battle in the Iowa caucus, the first time the US public is to cast ballots on the long road to Election Day in November.
“These documents were not marked classified at the time they were sent,” Kirby told a news briefing.
However, the e-mails were reviewed prior to public release and found to contain top secret information, Kirby said.
“The documents are being upgraded at the request” of US intelligence agencies, State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters, calling the withholding of documents in full “not unusual.”
US Senator Dianne Feinstein, the vice chair of the US Senate Intelligence Committee, said that “none” of the e-mail chains originated with Clinton or contained the mandatory markings that are required to accompany classified information when shared.
She described the material as being contained in 22 separate e-mails.
“The only reason to hold secretary Clinton responsible for e-mails that didn’t originate with her is for political points, and that’s what we’ve seen over the past several months,” Feinstein added.
Clinton’s campaign reacted with fury to the announcement, demanding that the e-mails be released in full, to defuse a burgeoning scandal that could critically damage her presidential hopes.
Campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said the review process “appears to be over-classification run amok.”
“We understand that these e-mails were likely originated on the State Department’s unclassified system before they were ever shared with Secretary Clinton, and they have remained on the department’s unclassified system for years,” he said.
Kirby said the State Department was separately investigating whether those e-mails should have been marked classified at the time.
The FBI is also probing Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server.
The disclosures triggered fresh Republican attacks on Clinton.
“If someone on my staff did what she did, you know what would happen? They would be fired and they would be prosecuted,” US Senator Marco Rubio said.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said that with the latest revelations, “Hillary Clinton has removed all doubt that she cannot be trusted with the presidency.”
He said her use of a private server “put our national security and diplomatic efforts at risk.”
However, Democratic presidential nomination rival Bernie Sanders called for the legal process reviewing the e-mails to “not be politicized.”
In a memorable campaign line, he said during an October last year presidential debate as he turned to face Clinton: “The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails.”
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