The State Department Thursday afternoon released new emails from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but the tranche was smaller than required for this month.
“We have worked diligently to come as close to the goal as possible, but with the large number of documents involved and the holiday schedule we have not met the goal this month,” the State Department said in a statement to reporters Thursday morning.
The State Department was supposed to release over 8,000 pages of emails Thursday — 16% of Clinton’s total available emails — but released approximately 5,500. Additional emails will be released “sometime next week,” the department said.
‘You look cute’
When a photo Hillary Clinton went viral — “The Texts from Hillary” meme, which repeatedly featured an image of her wearing sunglasses and thumbing away on her Blackberry — all chief of staff Cheryl Mills said was, “You look cute.”
Clinton was tipped to the viral hit in an April 5, 2012 email from Russell Potter, a State staffer, who wrote “Not sure if you’re aware of this and its recent “life” on Facebook. “Seems everyone is posting it.”
Clinton replied later “Why now? That was on way to Libya?”
Clinton later rode the hit to some fame but also saw it used by opponents after it was discovered she had been using a private email server.
‘Good info, sadly’
Here’s an inside look at some delicate negotiations between the administration and the New York Times over new details emerging from Benghazi in the days after the deadly Sept. 11, 2012 attack.
Following what appears to be some high level back-and-forth, at least one official seems to shrug and concede a disputed story is going to be published. Why’s that? The emailer concedes that the reporter “had good info, sadly.”
Who’s the “biggest jerk” in all of foreign service?
Of the many notes and memos Sidney Blumenthal passed Clinton, this one may carry the greatest insight but with the clawing realization the world will never find out who is one of the “biggest jerks” in diplomacy.
Blumenthal passed along this advice from John Kornblum, who was an ambassador to Germany under Bill Clinton:
“‘Just for the record, if she does not already know it, (redacted) is one of the biggest jerks in the foreign service. Not only can he not get along with people or think clearly on anything, he also went totally over to the dark side during the Bush administration. He is in a league with (redacted) on this one. He once literally shouted me down at a conference where I suggested the Bush administration was hurting U.S. relations with Europe.'”
What’s confidential and what’s not
The emails released on Thursday included 275 that had been upgraded in whole or part to “classified,” and redacted accordingly, a State Department official told CNN.
However, the official added that none of the emails contained information that was classified at the time they were sent of received — something Clinton has repeatedly emphasized as she campaigns for the presidency.
Most of those emails were upgraded to the lowest classified level, “Confidential,” but two were upgraded to the higher level of “Secret.”
Why are we getting these emails now
The State Department was ordered to release all of Clinton’s work-related emails by Judge Rudolph Contreras as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by journalist Jason Leopold. The case came after it was revealed that Clinton used a private email server to conduct official business while leading the department.
In May, Contreras ordered the State Department to “aspire to abide” to a monthly production schedule, releasing specified numbers of emails at the end of each month up until January 29, 2016.
While the schedule is aspirational, the department must also submit reports each month to explain its progress. State Department attorneys will therefore have to explain the failure to meet the December quota in a filing to Contreras next week.