In a conference call with reporters, the Clinton campaign says that two emails released by Fox News — which reportedly served to kick off the FBI investigation into whether Hillary Clinton’s emails were mishandled — vindicate Hillary Clinton’s contention that she broke no laws.
The two emails can be viewed here.
RELATED: Clinton gets combative over email controversy
The first email, dated April 10, 2011, was originated by a career foreign service officer – and then forwarded to Clinton by aide Huma Abedin – discussing the worsening security situation in Libya where Ambassador Christopher Stevens was considering departing Benghazi. (Stevens was killed in Benghazi a year later.) The email wasn’t marked classified, and the Clinton campaign says the State Department disputes that this information should be classified.
The second email, dated Nov. 18, 2012, originated from another career foreign service officer and was forwarded to Clinton by aide Jake Sullivan. And it describes reports that Libyan police may have arrested people in connection to the Benghazi attack.
In today’s conference call, the Clinton campaign argues that these two emails show either 1) a dispute between State and the intelligence community on what should be classified, or 2) the over-classification from some government quarters.
“It says more about the bent toward secrecy in [some quarters of] government than Hillary Clinton’s email practices,” says Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon.
Republican National Committee spokesman Michael Short fired back at the campaign’s take on the emails.
“All Hillary Clinton’s emails show is just how reckless her secret server really was,” he said in a statement released after the conference call. “At the end of the day, Hillary Clinton broke multiple regulations and put top secret information at risk all because she wanted to get around government transparency laws. Her campaign’s latest attempt at misdirection and finger-pointing doesn’t change that.”
This article first appeared on NBCNews.com.
Mark Murray