Oh, brother. Are you really trying to tell us that the highest possible classification is required simply to prevent public release?They would not be classified at that high a level if that were the case. There were emails on her server with information that is so sensitive that it cannot be released in any form. The reason they were not classified at the time is Hillary did not classify them, though she is ultimately responsible for them.That makes no sense. If information is classified, it doesn't matter where it is. IOW, it's either classified or not. Leaving it out where it can be easily accessed is the issue.Hillary had information on her server that was so sensitive that it could not be released in any form. That's not a gray area. Sorry, but to claim this is a defense is to, as I said before, admit that she is grossly incompetent to hold office.
Those 22 emails were upgraded to TS upon review for release. That means it was upgraded because it could not be released. It doesn't mean it would be classified also on the server but that as of the review it could not be made public. None of these emails were ever meant to be public. It could be as simple as not wanting discussions and processes of the State Dept made public to the world. They may contain information that could compromise ongoing negotiations or other operations. It never had to be classified on the server for that to be the case.
No. It's not classified until it is. If the sole reason to classify it is so it cannot be made public, then the classification has no need in the email server.
Let's say the State Dept had ongoing operations in a particular region and the official position of the US to it's foreign partners is one thing and what is discussed through email within State is another. Maybe even enough to jeopardize relations if it were public. In that case, routine communications could be classified for the sole purpose of blocking their release. It in no way means they were classified at all in the server or that anyone did anything wrong.
This is the more likely scenario as State has said repeatedly that none of these were classified at the time.
You have no idea what level of classification is required to prevent public release.