The State Department released Friday 2,800 work-related emails from top Hilary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, which the FBI found on the laptop of former Representative Anthony Weiner, Abedin’s husband, Politico reported.
Five of the messages from Abedin were marked classified, like numerous other emails that were sent or received by Clinton or her aides, which the State Department deemed classified in the process of preparing them for public release in response to Freedom of Information Act requests and lawsuits. The emails released on Friday are connected to a lawsuit filed by the conservative Judicial Watch group, which is seeking access to work messages Abedin sent from a personal email account, CNN said.
Describing the release, a State Department spokesperson said the department ‘’carefully reviews the content of records requested through FOIA to determine whether any information is sensitive or classified. Today’s production will have documents with classified information that has been redacted.’’
The emails described as classified deal with talks between the Palestinian militant movement Hamas and the Palestine Liberation Organization, a call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and conversations with the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates.
A message from November 2010 concerns a call to Saudi Prince and former foreign minister Saud al-Faisal. The message contains talking points about WikiLeaks’ impending release of documents leaked by former Army Private Bradley Manning.
Abedin has been a top Clinton aide for decades and at the time was serving as deputy chief of staff. Then-FBI Director James Comey wrote top congressional leaders that discovery of the messages meant that the bureau would review them in considering its conclusion about Clinton’s use of a private email server. Comey subsequently announced that the messages had not changed the FBI’s decision to not charge Clinton despite what it called her “extremely careless” handling of her email system.
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