The State Department is working on a document analysis to refute the intelligence community’s findings that some of Hillary Clinton’s emails should have been marked “top secret” when sent.
John Kirby, the agency’s spokesman, said Tuesday the State Department was building a case against the intelligence community’s conclusion “based on documents that only we have.”
“We would continue to maintain that any conclusion about the classification of the documents in question is premature,” Kirby said.
His announcement came in the wake of a review by the CIA and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency that confirmed two emails from a random sample of 40 contained “top secret” information — a finding the State Department has repeatedly disputed.
The State Department and Clinton’s campaign have maintained that none of the emails on Clinton’s private server were classified at the time they were sent.
The agency’s decision to “build a case” against the intelligence community’s findings has only escalated the public dispute over the sensitivity of Clinton’s emails.
Clinton has attempted to capitalize on the confusion, blaming the recent controversy on bureaucratic infighting.
