Clinton email on North Korea deemed secret, not ‘top secret’

One of two emails that the intelligence community’s inspector general wanted to label “top secret” was released Monday as “secret” after further review from the intelligence community, Kirby said.

Monday’s conclusion of the state department releases will not curtail the ongoing broader investigation into the server, or silence Clinton’s critics in her race for the White House.

Clinton called for the emails to be released when news of her unusual communications set-up was first revealed.

Much of the conversation surrounding Clinton’s use of a private server for State Department business has revolved around the question of whether she took adequate measures to safeguard sensitive information.

Last month, the department withheld 22 emails for including “top secret” information. The department is releasing other classified emails with some redactions.

“It has never made sense to me that Secretary Clinton can be held responsible for email exchanges that originated with someone else”, she added.

This video includes clips from Hillary for America, CBS and images from Getty Images.

The focus of those reviews, officials have said, has been on the advisers privy to her personal email address and on diplomats who sent messages that were forwarded by those aides, like Huma Abedin and Jake Sullivan, who served as a deputy chief of staff and director of policy planning during Clinton’s term as secretary.

No emails Clinton wrote or received were marked as classified at the time of transmission, which Clinton has repeatedly cited in her own defense.

“This document, and the email chain to which it was attached, are unclassified”, a State Department official said. Those emails are not classified and will be released eventually like other presidential records.

According to the Republican National Committee, 2,063 emails were found to contain classified information on “foreign relations or foreign activities of the United States, including confidential sources;” 1,478 were found to contain classified “foreign government information” and 28 emails were found to contain classified information on “intelligence activities (including covert action), intelligence sources or methods, or cryptology;” and 4 emails were found to contain classified information on “vulnerabilities or capabilities of systems, installations, infrastructures, projects, plans, or protection services relating to the national security”.

In addition to portions of that document being censored, one email between Clinton and President Barack Obama was also withheld from publication on Monday, bringing to 19 the total of such messages that have been kept private to protect the president’s ability to receive advice from his aides.

And Clinton’s emails continue to get scrutiny beyond the State Department.

The email was not classified when it was transmitted. Clinton has said the arrangement was for her convenience, but that she now regrets it. Kirby said the final batch did not contain any “top secret” files.