Source: Hillary's Classified Emails 'Based on a Flawed Process'

Federal intelligence officials are walking back a claim that two of Hillary Clinton's private emails contained top-secret information — a finding that triggered an FBI probe of Clinton's private server. 

Intelligence Community Inspector General I. Charles McCullough initially made the claim of highly classified material in the data, but the State Department disagreed and asked the office of Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to referee the dispute, Politico reports.  

The issue was resolved in favor of the State Department, Politico reports.

"The initial determination was based on a flawed process," an unnamed source tells Politico. "There was an intelligence product people thought [one of the emails] was based on, but that actually postdated the email in question."

The two emails were received by Clinton in 2009 and 2011. One is believed to contain information about North Korea nuclear weapons program. 

The determination "is further evidence that there was no wrongdoing by Secretary Clinton," California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein tells The Hill. 

"The classification process is complex and subjective, but this confirms Secretary Clinton did not send classified information through her email account. It’s time to put this issue behind us and move on."

Feinstein is the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Clinton has repeatedly defended her use of a private email server by claiming nothing she sent or received was "marked classified at the time." 

Emails have since been marked classified by the State Department, with hundreds more expected to receive that designation before the agency finishes screening them in January, the Washington Examiner notes. 

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