WASHINGTON – Hillary Clinton Sunday brushed off the latest allegation she mishandled classified information while Secretary of State, insisting “there’s no there, there.”
In an email released Friday, Clinton appears to direct a staffer to circumvent the classified system in 2011 after there was trouble sending information to her on a secure fax line.
“If they can’t, turn into nonpaper w no identifying heading and send nonsecure,” Clinton emailed State Department aide Jake Sullivan June 17, 2011.
Asked on CBS’ “Face the Nation” whether that was an order to violate the laws on handling classified material, Clinton said “no, not at all.”
“And as the State Department said just this week, that did not happen. And it never would have happened, because that’s just not the way I treated classified information,” Clinton said, insisting she was in need of information quickly and was asking for whatever can be transmitted safely on the unclassified system.
Clinton’s been in the hot-water with the FBI for using a home-brew email server and personal email exclusively while Secretary of State. The feds are investigating whether classified information she handled is secure.
With the 1:39 a.m. Friday document dump, the State Department has released about 82 percent of 55,000 pages of emails Clinton turned over. In all, 1,319 of her emails once stored on her private service have since been retroactively upgraded to classified, including one that was deemed a level higher than “confidential.”
The latest accusation is “another effort by people looking for something to throw against the wall, as you said in the beginning of the program, to see what sticks. But there’s no there there,” Clinton said.
Asked whether there was ever an instance where Clinton skirted restrictions on classified information, Clinton said: “No. And it wasn’t sent.
“…But, oftentimes, there’s a lot of information that isn’t at all classified. So, whatever information can appropriately transmitted unclassified often was. That’s true for every agency in the government and who everybody does business with the government.”
The Democratic presidential frontrunner defended her longtime staffer Sullivan. “He is the most meticulous, careful person you could possibly do business with. And he knew exactly what was and wasn’t appropriate,” she said.
