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Newly released emails show a 2009 request to issue a secure government smartphone to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was denied by the National Security Agency. The messages made public Wednesday were obtained by Judicial Watch, a conservative legal advocacy group that has filed numerous lawsuits seeking the release of federal documents related to Clinton's tenure as the nation's top diplomat.
The U.S. State Department planned to conduct an internal review of whether classified information was properly handled in former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails when she was in office from 2009 to 2013. However, the State Department had consulted the FBI about the case in February and the law enforcement agency has now asked the department to halt its inquiry.
The case came to light on January 29 ,when the State Department said that 22 emails were sent or received by Clinton and had been upgraded to top secret at the request U.S. intelligence agencies. It had then been decided that the emails would not be made public as part of the release of thousands of Clinton’s emails, even though the department said that none of the emails was marked classified when sent. Following this, the State Department had said that it would conduct an internal review on whether the information in the emails was classified at the time it passed through Clinton's private clintonemail.com account run on a server in her New York home.
Confirming the suspension of review, Elizabeth Trudeau, State Department spokeswoman said in a press statement, “The FBI communicated to us that we should follow our standard practice, which is to put our internal review on hold while there is an ongoing law enforcement investigation. The internal review is on hold, pending completion of the FBI’s work. We’ll reassess next steps after the FBI’s work is complete.” The U.S. Presidential candidate and Democratic Party front-runner, Hillary Clinton had subsequently apologised for using a private email server for official business but claimed she had not done anything wrong.
FBI requests State Department to halt review of Clinton emails
Spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said Friday the department had paused the review to avoid interfering with an ongoing FBI investigation into Clinton's use of a private server while she was America's top diplomat. She said the decision was made after the department sought the FBI's advice on how to proceed with the review and received word that it should follow its standard practice. Trudeau said the department's standard practice is to place internal reviews "on hold while there is an ongoing law enforcement investigation underway." An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment.
"Of course, we do not want our internal review to complicate or impede the progress of their ongoing law enforcement investigation," Trudeau told reporters. "Therefore, the State Department at this time is not moving forward with our internal review." Trudeau said the department would "reassess next steps" in the internal review process once the FBI completes its probe.
The department began the internal review in January when it announced that it had classified 22 emails that Clinton sent or received as "top secret" and would not be releasing them. None of the emails was marked classified at the time it was sent.
One aspect of the internal review, which was being conducted by the bureaus of Diplomatic Security and Intelligence and Research, was to investigate whether any of the information in the emails was classified at the time of transmission. If and when it is completed, the review could result in counseling, warnings or other action against employees if it finds the information was mishandled.
State Dept suspends review into 'top secret' Clinton emails
