The State Department insisted Tuesday that Undersecretary of State Patrick Kennedy was not trying to declassify one of Hillary Clinton’s private emails in order to minimize the appearance of classified information in those emails, but to ensure the public could see as much of her emails as possible.
“We always operated under the … mindset that we wanted to make as much possible public as we could,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters. “I think that was the intent behind the FOIAs.”
He also said State wanted to be sure there was a real reason to redact the classified information that might have been on the emails.
“So as we looked at these, we did look at what areas or what parts or portions of these emails should be redacted, and we wanted to make certain that there was a solid rationale, legally and otherwise, behind these upgrades,” he added.
Toner’s theory goes against the one raised by Republicans, which is that State was pushing to classify none of the emails as “classified” because Clinton had said repeatedly she never sent any classified information on her server.
Toner did agree, however, that part of the department’s effort was aimed at ensuring that any information deemed as classified would be redacted, an indirect admission that some classified information was found.
“We certainly looked at all of these emails because we wanted to ensure that information that should be upgraded didn’t get out publicly,” he said.
Notes from the FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s emails point to another possible reason why State resisted the classified designation. Those notes say Kennedy offered a deal to the FBI under which the email would be declassified and buried, and in return, at least some in the FBI considered asking State to approve more FBI positions in Iraq.
The State Department has rejected the idea that a deal was ever discussed, and dismissed it as an incorrect perception of what was going on.
