WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 (UPI) — The State Department retroactively classified dozens of emails sent from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton via her private server, including one that asked an advisor to use a non-secure system to send information.
The release included 3,007 pages of new emails including 66 documents that were retroactively declared confidential. They were not classified at the time they were sent.
The emails, released at 2 a.m. Friday and a week after the State Department said it would miss the originally intended deadline, feature Clinton commenting on another employee’s use of personal email and exchanges with friends and family.
One of the emails included correspondence between Clinton and adviser Jake Sullivan regarding a list of talking points she needed for an upcoming appearance. Clinton had been expecting the information, but Sullivan said staffers were having a difficult time transmitting it:
“They say they’ve had issues sending secure fax. They’re working on it.” Sullivan wrote in an email to Clinton.
Clinton then replied, “If they can’t, turn into nonpaper w no identifying heading and send nonsecure.”
Republican Senator Chuck Grassley said the correspondence represented a “disturbing” disregard for the security of classified information by Clinton.
“It raises a host of serious questions and underscores the importance of the various inquiries into the transmittal of classified information through her non-government email server,” Grassley said. “How long has the State Department been aware of this email? Why is it just now being released? Was her instruction actually carried out? If so, has the FBI opened a criminal inquiry into these circumstances?”
State Department spokesman John Kirby said during the briefing on Friday that he would not speak about Clinton’s email practices, but said it is not uncommon for unclassified documents to be created, crafted, edited and shared on a classified system.
Clinton, the leading candidate for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, has repeatedly said she did not send classified information from her private account while serving as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013
