Of the 3,000 Hillary Clinton emails made public June 30, 22 had sections redacted because they contained information pertaining to national security, foreign relations or U.S. actions in a foreign country.
Officials said the redactions were made to prepare the emails for publication and that the information was not classified at the time Clinton sent or received the emails.
Many of the classified emails involved North Korea, which was holding two American journalists in detention at the time. These emails, all from 2009, were dated March 30, April 1 and May 16, 22 and 15. Another email, dated May 25, provided background for a call with Japanese, Russian, Chinese and South Korean foreign ministers in the wake of a North Korean nuclear test.
Other popular topics in 2009 were Haiti – three emails dated June 16, July 15 and Oct. 25 – and Sri Lanka, two dated May 16, which was ending a 25-year civil war about the same time the emails were sent. Other emails involved Honduras, which had experienced a coup a few months prior to the Oct. 25, 2009, email, and Egypt, referenced on Nov. 27, 2009. The subject of other emails is hard to ascertain because of the amount redacted.
All of the emails except one appear to be sent from or to State Department officials.
The exception is one 2009 email from Sid Blumenthal, on July 26, longtime adviser to the Clinton and her husband, the former president.
Blumenthal forwards Clinton an email from Joe Wilson, diplomat and husband of ex-CIA agent Valerie Plame, and asks her how a recent visit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin went.
Clinton responds, “Berlin was terrific. Lots of good exchanges w leaders.” The rest of the message was classified.
Republicans on Friday seized on a New York Times report that said two inspectors general had asked the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into whether sensitive government information had been mishandled.
Clinton’s presidential campaign said the story was false and asked the newspaper for a correction.
A subsequent statement from I. Charles McCullough III and Steve Linick, the inspectors general, agreed that they had not made a criminal referral. But in their statement they said they had uncovered four emails that have yet to be made public that did contain classified information and that should not have been on a non-government server.
“These emails contained classified information when they were generated, and, according to IC classification officials, that information remains classified today,” the two officials wrote. “This classified information should never have been transmitted via an unclassified personal system.”
Their referral to “security officials within the executive branch” was consistent with laws that require they report “potential compromises of national security information.”
Of course, what’s in those yet-be-released emails is unknown.
Corrine Kennedy: @corrineskennedy