At least 1,818 emails that Hillary Clinton sent or received contained classified material, according to the State Department’s latest update from its ongoing review of more than 30,000 emails.
The State Department released a new batch of 1,589 pages of Clinton’s emails Friday evening in response to a court order. Of those, 88 contain classified information. All are at the confidential level, which is the lowest level of classification.
None of Clinton’s emails was marked as classified during her tenure, State Department officials say, but intelligence officials say some material was clearly classified at the time. Her aides also sent and received classified information.
Clinton, running a tough race for the Democratic nomination for president, has been under fire for months for exclusively using personal email routed through a private server while serving as the nation’s top diplomat. The FBI launched an inquiry into the handling of sensitive information after classified information was found in some.
In response to a public records lawsuit, the State Department is releasing Clinton’s emails monthly after partially or entirely redacting any containing sensitive U.S. or foreign government information. So far, it has released 48,535 pages of emails.
Last month, the State Department designated 22 of previously reviewed emails “top secret” – the first time it has deemed any of Clinton’s emails to be classified at a level that can cause “exceptionally grave” damage to national security if disclosed. The 22 emails will not be released to the public. The department is releasing other classified emails with some redactions.
Clinton’s campaign has refuted the “top secret” designation and demanded that all of Clinton’s emails be released to the public.
The State Department inspector general said recently he had discovered that former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Secretary Condoleezza Rice’s aides had classified information in their personal emails. Powell has rejected those allegations.
The State Department had been ordered by a federal judge to release all of Clinton’s emails in January in response to a public records lawsuit. But the State Department said it would be unable to meet the deadline. The judge ordered State to release batches of the remaining Clinton's emails on Feb. 13, 19, 26 and 29. The next batch will be released the day before the South Carolina primary,
Anita Kumar: 202-383-6017, @anitakumar01