First Clinton Emails on Benghazi Are Out

So far: She got sensitive, but not classified, info on her personal server
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted May 22, 2015 1:31 PM CDT
First Clinton Emails on Benghazi Are Out
Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks during a roundtable discussion at Smuttynose Brewery Friday in Hampton, NH.   (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

If you were hoping to spend the long weekend reading Hillary Clinton emails about Benghazi, you're in luck: The State Department has released the first batch of about 300 from her personal email account, missives that have been turned over to a House panel investigating the 2012 attack. Reporters are still combing through them—check out the Wall Street Journal's "live dive" here—but don't hold your breath for bombshells:

  • State Department: “The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago," says a department tweet. (The Republican chair of the Benghazi panel, Trey Gowdy, says that's not surprising given that they were vetted by Clinton's attorneys, reports USA Today.)
  • Not classified, but ... One of the emails to Clinton from deputy chief of staff Jake Sullivan discusses the arrests of suspects in Libya. About 20 words have been redacted. "Because the information was not classified at the time the email was sent, no laws were violated," writes AP. "But Friday's redaction shows that Clinton received information considered sensitive on her unsecured personal server."

  • 'Gorgeous pic': The New York Times printed some emails in advance yesterday, noting that "the emails appear to back up Mrs. Clinton’s previous assertions that she did not receive classified information at her private email address." It also takes note of a personal one in March 2011 to Clinton from State Department underling Ann-Marie Slaughter. “Gorgeous pic on the front page of the NYT!” it said. “One for the wall...” Then it goes into more serious subjects.
  • Mundane: "Few of the e-mails deal directly with events leading up to the attacks or their aftermath, according to those who have seen them," writes the Washington Post. "Many contain administrative details, press accounts, speech drafts and other information exchanged between Clinton and her senior aides." But they do "capture the concerns of Clinton and other officials about the political chaos" in Libya.
(More Benghazi stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X