US State Dept. releases thousands of Clinton emails

Democratic presidential candidate and former secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that President Barack Obama called her when negotiators had reached a deal on Iran’s nuclear program.

Clinton’s emails are being released in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by VICE News senior investigative reporter Jason Leopold after it was revealed that Clinton had used a private email server when she was the top U.S. diplomat.

The State Department is required to release all 55,000 pages of Clinton’s work-related emails by January 20.

Two emails released Thursday were designated “secret”, the second-highest level of classification, which applies to information that could cause serious damage to national security if released.

Clinton has acknowledged she exclusively used a private email account and private server while secretary of state, opting against a government account despite official recommendations.

The State Department was delivering a New Year’s Eve batch of about 5,500 pages of Clinton emails.

Clinton, now a Democratic candidate for the White House, did not publicly endorse marriage equality until after she stepped down from her post as secretary of state.

According to one email, Sydney Blumenthal, former senior adviser to Clinton informed her in 2009 that German Chancellor Angela Merkel loathed the “Obama phenomenon”.

In a sign that the Clinton operation is also looking past the nominating contest, the campaign said that while it was soliciting donations only for the primaries, it had also raised $1 million to be used in the general election.

But the State Department will fail to meet a court-imposed deadline on the number of Clinton’s e-mails to be released this month.

The most recent filing comes just weeks before the first-in-the-nation ballots will be cast in the Democratic nominating contest, and Clinton’s latest grab provides a much-needed cushion of support as she battles for support in key early voter states. But her campaign has also received a wave of smaller donations, particularly after Clinton’s testimony before the Benghazi committee in Congress and following her debate performances, aides said.