More Hillary emails have parts blocked, ruled classified

While she was secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton wrote and sent at least six emails using her private server that contained what government officials say is classified information, according to thousands of emails released by the State Department.

Although government officials deemed the emails classified after Clinton left office, they could complicate her efforts to move beyond the political fallout from the controversy. They suggest that her role in distributing sensitive material via her private email system went beyond receiving notes written by others, and appears to contradict public statements in which she denied sending or receiving emails containing classified information.

The classified emails, contained in thousands of pages of electronic correspondence that the State Department has released, stood out because of the heavy markings blocking out sentences and, in some cases, entire messages.

The State Department officials who redacted the material cited national security as the reason for blocking it from public view.

Clinton, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, was one of about four dozen State Department officials whose emails were redacted because of national security concerns, according to a Washington Post review. Those officials included top aides such as Jake Sullivan and Cheryl Mills. All told, 188 of the emails the State Department has released contain classified material.

The extent of the redactions in emails sent by Clinton and others, including ambassadors and career Foreign Service officers, points to a broader pattern that has alarmed intelligence officials in which sensitive information has been circulated on non-secure systems. Another worry is that Clinton aides further spread sensitive information by forwarding government emails to Clinton's private account.

But it highlights concerns raised by Clinton and her supporters that identifying classified material can be a confusing process, and well-meaning public officials reviewing the same material could come to different conclusions as to its classification level.

Clinton's use of a private email server has become an issue for her campaign.

The intelligence community's inspector general had previously identified four emails out of a sample of 40 that had been sent on her server and contained classified information, including two that involved top-secret information. In those cases, however, people who have reviewed the emails said that Clinton did not write them.

The FBI is investigating whether Clinton's email setup may have compromised national security information.

Nick Merrill, a Clinton campaign spokesman, said the heavy redactions in some of Clinton's emails had been expected.

“This has been the case in previous releases and may well be the case in subsequent ones,” he said. “It is not surprising given the sheer volume of intelligence community lawyers now involved in the review of these emails.”

State Department spokesman John Kirby said that “classification is not always a black-and-white, binary judgment. Responsible people can draw different conclusions.”

But the presence of classified information in emails Clinton wrote appears to contradict her assurances that she sent no such material.