Another smoking gun that would end with the arrest of an everyday American.
The federal government is censoring 37 pages of emails from Hillary Clinton’s private email server, saying they contain information considered “top secret.” The move marks the first time her State Department emails have been accorded such a high level of classification and comes just days before the Iowa caucuses.
Seven email chains are being withheld in their entirety from a release scheduled later Friday for including “top secret” information.
“The documents are being upgraded at the request of the intelligence community, because they contain a category of top secret information,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said. He added, though, that the messages had not been designated as top secret when they were sent, though the department “is focusing on whether they need to be classified today.” .
Clinton, who served as secretary of State from 2009 to 2013, has long maintained that she did not send or received information that was classified at the time, which Kirby said Friday was the case.
She’s in a tight battle with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in Iowa, which holds caucuses that open the 2016 primary calendar on Monday.[…]
For his part, Sanders on Friday stuck to previous statements about Clinton’s emails, saying that the situation shouldn’t be politicized.
“The voters of Iowa and this nation deserve a serious discussion of the issues facing them,” he said in a statement.
Earlier this month it was announced that the State Department asked for a one-month extension to produce all of Clinton’s emails, which critics suggested was politically motivated to come after the opening primaries.
“It’s clear that the State Department’s delay is all about ensuring any further damaging developments in Hillary Clinton’s email scandal are revealed only after the votes are counted in the early nominating states,” Priebus said at the time.