22 Highly Classified Emails from Hillary Clinton Will Not Be Released

The U.S. State Department announced on Friday, January 29, that 22 emails sent by Hillary Clinton during her tenure as Secretary of State using a personal server and email account contain "top secret" content and cannot be released. According to Reuters, John Kirby, the spokesperson for the State Department, stated that several of Clinton's emails, totaling around 37 pages, have been classified as top secret by U.S. intelligence agencies. The spokesperson emphasized that these documents were not classified as confidential at the time of the email exchanges, and the department is investigating whether the content and information of these emails were confidential or not. CNN reported that the State Department had until the end of Friday to release all of Hillary Clinton's emails. According to this report, the State Department has released a thousand of Clinton's emails but has withheld some emails, including seven threads totaling 22 emails classified as top secret. Meanwhile, Clinton's campaign office has stated that it strongly opposes the decision to prevent the release of all emails. Reuters noted that during the previous release of a large number of Clinton's emails, some parts were censored. However, this is the first time that part of these emails has been referred to as "top secret." Republicans in Congress have previously criticized Clinton's use of a personal server and email during her time as Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013 and have conducted investigations into the matter. Nevertheless, Clinton's campaign office has stated that these emails did not contain confidential information and that what has been classified as top secret resembles more of a bureaucratic and administrative conflict between various agencies.