Final batch of Hillary Clinton’s emails released
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a campaign rally in Norfolk, Va. (Photo: Gerald Herbert/AP)
The U.S. State Department released the final batch of Hillary Clinton’s emails from her private server in New York on Monday. This brings the total number of released emails to more than 52,000, including over 2,000 purported to contain classified information.
The last set of 3,800 documents, released on the eve of Super Tuesday, comes amid an allegation of anti-Clinton bias within the State Department — a charge the organization roundly rejects.
One particularly sensitive email from July 2009, which concerns a North Korean ballistic missile test, has been at the center of a debate over Clinton’s handling of classified information as secretary of state.
State Department spokesman John Kirby explained that after further review, the intelligence community changed its assessment of the North Korea document from the “top secret” level to the “secret” level, so much of the email chain has been redacted.
“The original assessment was not correct and the document does not contain top-secret information,” Kirby told reporters Monday. “At the request of the intelligence community, a limited amount of information in this document has been provisionally upgraded to ‘secret.’ The department is honoring this request provisionally pending further consideration.”
The FBI has been conducting an investigation into Clinton’s email use and potential corruption for over a year. But, given her Oval Office aspirations and high profile, people on both sides of the aisle fear she has been treated unfairly. Generally, supporters tend to argue that she has received harsher treatment, while detractors think she has benefited from preferential treatment.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch assured Fox News Monday that the FBI is handling the case as it would any other: Independent lawyers will review the evidence and make a determination in due course.
“There is no double standard in this or any other matter being handled by the Department of Justice,” Lynch told anchor Bret Baier.
Clinton poses for a picture at Mapps Coffee in Minneapolis on Tuesday. (Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
A source within the State Department Office of Inspector General (OIG) has reached out to the Hill and accused the office of being anti-Clinton.
In response, John Podesta, the chairman of Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, told the political paper Tuesday that this allegation raises concerns about the OIG’s integrity and described the source as a “whistleblower.”
“This person’s account is highly troubling and is cause to ask serious questions about the independence of this office,” Podesta told the Hill.
Yahoo News contacted an OIG spokesperson to get the organization’s reaction to the allegations about its reliability as a dispassionate entity. The OIG responded with an email saying that it is unbiased, fact-based and without a political agenda.
“Partisan politics play no role in OIG’s work. At all times, State OIG operates as an independent organization, consistent with the law,” the spokesperson wrote. “Our work will continue to be unbiased, objective, and fact-based. We are currently reviewing the email practices of the current and last four Secretaries of State, including the impact of these practices on FOIA and agency record keeping requirements. Any suggestion that the office is biased against any particular Secretary is completely false.”
It does not appear that the latest batch of emails will have an impact on Super Tuesday results.
Clinton served as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013 under President Obama, who has called her email server use a mistake but not a national security threat. Clinton has repeatedly said that her use of a private server out of her home in Chappaqua, N.Y., was not illegal.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, her competition for the Democratic presidential nomination, has declined to politicize the controversial emails but also said it is a “very serious issue.”
The Republican presidential candidates, on the other hand, frequently invoke the emails as evidence of Clinton’s alleged dishonesty and corruption.
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