Recently released documents from the FBI's investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's email server show a dispute between the FBI and State over a classified email that discusses arrests made after the 2012 Benghazi attacks, Politico reported.
The email, the first on Clinton's private server to be publicly identified as "SECRET," prompted an argument from the FBI. Notes attached to the email when it was reviewed in 2015 say it was classified due to concerns about its potential impact on foreign relations. But at least one FBI official thought the message ought to be classified for potentially exposing intelligence "sources and methods."
"The redaction lists 'interference with foreign relations as the rationale.' The crux of States [sic] argument is they know better what will impact foreign relations, and there is no longer a government in place" in Libya, the unnamed FBI official wrote to FBI Assistant Director for Records Management Michelle Jupina, according to Politico.
"The more appropriate rationale is sources and methods. While the email does not name the particular official, this might be deduced and, given the threat of violence in the region, any surmise could be fatal for whoever cooperated with us. State will say no one will know if it is redacted, but that is not how classification works."
According to the message, Deputy Secretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy contacted the FBI three times to dispute the classification. Eventually, Kennedy summoned various officials to discuss the thousands of emails reviewed by the FBI. At that meeting, Kennedy reportedly asked the FBI representative and a Justice Department official to "stay behind to discuss the FBI determination" on classification.
In a later email, FBI Counterterrorism Division head Michael Steinbach said he refused Kennedy's request to withhold the information rather than classify it, according to Politico.
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