RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Peter Nicholas @PeterNicholas3
State Dept. sends out link to nearly 300 Benghazi emails during Hillary Clinton's tenure. Link is balky and producing no documents as yet.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 12:54 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Tyson Brody
Cc: Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/22/politics/hillary-clinton-emails-release-benghazi/
CNN: First round of Hillary Clinton State Department emails released
By Alexandra Jaffe, CNN
Updated 12:40 PM ET, Fri May 22, 2015
Washington (CNN)The State Department released Friday its first round of emails from Hillary Clinton's time as Secretary of State, offering a new look at her handling of the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
The roughly 300 emails, about 850 pages, are part of the 30,000 that she turned over to State from her private email server, which she used almost exclusively to conduct both private and public business during her time at State.
"The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks," the State Department tweeted shortly after the announcement.
Facing considerable backlash and deep skepticism over her use of a private server as she makes her second bid for the White House, Clinton asked State to make her emails public this past March, and repeated her public push to have them released on the campaign trail this week.
The State Department initially planned to release them in January 2016, but a federal judge ruled this week that there should be a "rolling production" of the emails, and they must be disclosed publicly in batches before then. Clinton called for State to expedite their release this week in Iowa, saying "nobody has a bigger interest in getting [the emails] released than I do."
A congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks, meanwhile, has had the emails related to Benghazi and Libya since February.
Details of Clinton's email habits that have trickled out over the past few months suggest she used email sparingly, mostly for logistics and to forward information to aides. She's said previously that she was careful to never use email to exchange classified information, and the initial batch isn't expected to show otherwise — the highest classification of messages was "sensitive but unclassified."
On Thursday, the New York Times published a portion of the emails relating to Benghazi, which include a handful from controversial Clinton ally Sidney Blumenthal tipping Clinton off to volatile conditions on the ground in Libya, including one blaming the Benghazi attacks on an anti-Muslim video, which he later walked back.
The top Democrat on the Benghazi committee released a statement praising the State Department's decision to release all of the emails pertaining to the attacks at once and said they would vindicate Democrats' assertion that Clinton did nothing inappropriate in her response.
"Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years," Rep. Elijah Cummings said in the statement.
He added: "The Select Committee should schedule Secretary Clinton's public testimony now and stop wasting taxpayer money dragging out this political charade to harm Secretary Clinton's bid for president."
But panel chairman Trey Gowdy vehemently disagreed, characterizing the emails released as providing a selective and incomplete picture because a team of attorneys working for Clinton chose which ones to send to State, and saying "unresolved questions" still remain about Benghazi.
"We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi," he said.
Gowdy said that to get a full picture, Clinton should turn over her servers to a "a neutral, detached, independent third party for review."
"The Committee's interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers."
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 12:50 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Tyson Brody
Cc: Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Schiff says Clinton email releases only makes "transparent" the "motivation" to "attack the potential Democratic presidential nominee."
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 12:46 PM
To: Tyson Brody
Cc: Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
From: Hoffman, Jennifer
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 12:38 PM
To: Hoffman, Jennifer
Subject: RELEASE: Cummings Commends State Department for Complying with Democratic Request to Release Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
| |
For Immediate Release: May 22, 2015 | Contact: Jennifer Hoffman/Paul Bell
|
Cummings Commends State Department for Complying with Democratic Request to Release Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC (May 22, 2015) – Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member of the Select Committee on Benghazi, issued the following statement in response to the State Department’s public release of approximately 850 pages of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails related to Benghazi:
“I am pleased that the State Department released the complete set of Secretary Clinton’s emails about Benghazi – as Democrats requested months ago. Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years. The Select Committee should schedule Secretary Clinton’s public testimony now and stop wasting taxpayer money dragging out this political charade to harm Secretary Clinton’s bid for president.”
The State Department's action today came in response to a letter sent by all Select Committee Democrats on March 10 requesting that Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi emails be released to the public.
The Select Committee was established more than a year ago to investigate the attacks in Benghazi, and it has spent approximately $3 million in taxpayer funds to date.
The Select Committee has lasted longer than multiple previous investigations, including the investigations of Iran-Contra, the Kennedy assassination, the attack on Pearl Harbor, and Hurricane Katrina.
At its current pace, the Select Committee is on track to last longer than the investigations of Watergate and 9/11—at a cost of more than $6 million.
| |
- 30 - | |
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:43 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
> --
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Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
--
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I regularly deal with clients who are alleged to have mishandled CLASS. Please, do not act like post hac classification is retroactive.
.@Heminator @dwbwriter @KThomasDC That they were classified this morning does not mean they were classified at the time. C'mon.
Dreading the number of media partisan hacks who will talk about handling CLASS today on TV w/o any clue regarding reality.
Peter Nicholas @PeterNicholas3
State Dept. sends out link to nearly 300 Benghazi emails during Hillary Clinton's tenure. Link is balky and producing no documents as yet.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 12:54 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Tyson Brody
Cc: Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/22/politics/hillary-clinton-emails-release-benghazi/
CNN: First round of Hillary Clinton State Department emails released
By Alexandra Jaffe, CNN
Updated 12:40 PM ET, Fri May 22, 2015
Washington (CNN)The State Department released Friday its first round of emails from Hillary Clinton's time as Secretary of State, offering a new look at her handling of the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
The roughly 300 emails, about 850 pages, are part of the 30,000 that she turned over to State from her private email server, which she used almost exclusively to conduct both private and public business during her time at State.
"The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks," the State Department tweeted shortly after the announcement.
Facing considerable backlash and deep skepticism over her use of a private server as she makes her second bid for the White House, Clinton asked State to make her emails public this past March, and repeated her public push to have them released on the campaign trail this week.
The State Department initially planned to release them in January 2016, but a federal judge ruled this week that there should be a "rolling production" of the emails, and they must be disclosed publicly in batches before then. Clinton called for State to expedite their release this week in Iowa, saying "nobody has a bigger interest in getting [the emails] released than I do."
A congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks, meanwhile, has had the emails related to Benghazi and Libya since February.
Details of Clinton's email habits that have trickled out over the past few months suggest she used email sparingly, mostly for logistics and to forward information to aides. She's said previously that she was careful to never use email to exchange classified information, and the initial batch isn't expected to show otherwise — the highest classification of messages was "sensitive but unclassified."
On Thursday, the New York Times published a portion of the emails relating to Benghazi, which include a handful from controversial Clinton ally Sidney Blumenthal tipping Clinton off to volatile conditions on the ground in Libya, including one blaming the Benghazi attacks on an anti-Muslim video, which he later walked back.
The top Democrat on the Benghazi committee released a statement praising the State Department's decision to release all of the emails pertaining to the attacks at once and said they would vindicate Democrats' assertion that Clinton did nothing inappropriate in her response.
"Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years," Rep. Elijah Cummings said in the statement.
He added: "The Select Committee should schedule Secretary Clinton's public testimony now and stop wasting taxpayer money dragging out this political charade to harm Secretary Clinton's bid for president."
But panel chairman Trey Gowdy vehemently disagreed, characterizing the emails released as providing a selective and incomplete picture because a team of attorneys working for Clinton chose which ones to send to State, and saying "unresolved questions" still remain about Benghazi.
"We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi," he said.
Gowdy said that to get a full picture, Clinton should turn over her servers to a "a neutral, detached, independent third party for review."
"The Committee's interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers."
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 12:50 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Tyson Brody
Cc: Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Schiff says Clinton email releases only makes "transparent" the "motivation" to "attack the potential Democratic presidential nominee."
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 12:46 PM
To: Tyson Brody
Cc: Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
From: Hoffman, Jennifer
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 12:38 PM
To: Hoffman, Jennifer
Subject: RELEASE: Cummings Commends State Department for Complying with Democratic Request to Release Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
For Immediate Release:
May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jennifer Hoffman/Paul Bell
202-225-7100
Cummings Commends State Department for
Complying with Democratic Request to
Release Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC (May 22, 2015) – Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member of the Select Committee on Benghazi, issued the following statement in response to the State Department’s public release of approximately 850 pages of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails related to Benghazi:
“I am pleased that the State Department released the complete set of Secretary Clinton’s emails about Benghazi – as Democrats requested months ago. Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years. The Select Committee should schedule Secretary Clinton’s public testimony now and stop wasting taxpayer money dragging out this political charade to harm Secretary Clinton’s bid for president.”
The State Department's action today came in response to a letter sent by all Select Committee Democrats on March 10 requesting that Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi emails be released to the public.
The Select Committee was established more than a year ago to investigate the attacks in Benghazi, and it has spent approximately $3 million in taxpayer funds to date.
The Select Committee has lasted longer than multiple previous investigations, including the investigations of Iran-Contra, the Kennedy assassination, the attack on Pearl Harbor, and Hurricane Katrina.
At its current pace, the Select Committee is on track to last longer than the investigations of Watergate and 9/11—at a cost of more than $6 million.
- 30 -
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:43 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
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Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
> --
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--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
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Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
--
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Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?See it unredacted from the times below:On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?See it unredacted from the times below:On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
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Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
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Hillary for America
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By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
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Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
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Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
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This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
> --
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--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
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Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
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First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDTThe first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74LOn Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
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Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
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Hillary for America
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--Josh SchwerinSpokespersonHillary for America@JoshSchwerin
CORRECT THE RECORD STATEMENT ON RELEASE OF SECRETARY CLINTON’S BENGHAZI EMAILS
*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*
Friday, May 22, 2015
CONTACT: Correct The Record
Adrienne Watson / Daniel Wessel (202) 540-9629
CORRECT THE RECORD STATEMENT ON RELEASE OF SECRETARY CLINTON’S BENGHAZI EMAILS
Washington, DC – In response to the State Department’s release of Secretary Clinton’s emails pertaining to the tragedy in Benghazi, Brad Woodhouse, President of Correct The Record, gave the following statement.
_
“Today’s release of Secretary Clinton’s emails is consistent with and only reinforces the findings of the previous nine Congressional committees and multiple independent reviews that have looked into this matter: There was no Obama Administration wrongdoing on Benghazi. Moreover, the State Department has reiterated that the emails ‘do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks.’
“The record shows that Secretary Clinton took responsibility for the tragedy in Benghazi; she took action to ensure that such attacks don’t happen again; and she’s been fully transparent throughout. Secretary Clinton produced all of her work emails to the State Department and has called for all 55,000 pages of them, including these Benghazi-related emails, to be made public in an unprecedented act of transparency.
“Now that the public can see that Secretary Clinton’s emails do not materially change the outcome of prior investigations that found no evidence of wrongdoing by President Obama or Secretary Clinton, it’s time for Chairman Gowdy to conclude his inquiry before it is further exposed as a partisan political exercise at taxpayers’ expense.”
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:30 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
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--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
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Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
--
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Sent from my iPhone
Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDTThe first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74LOn Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
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>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
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> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
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--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
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Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
--Josh SchwerinSpokespersonHillary for America@JoshSchwerin
NYT: First Batch of Hillary Clinton Emails Captures Concerns Over Libya
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDTMAY 21, 2015
WASHINGTON — The State Department is expected to release the first batch of emails from Hillary Rodham Clinton’s private email address in the coming days.
The emails set for release, drawn from some 55,000 pages and focused on Libya, have already been turned over to the special House committee investigating the 2012 attacks on the United States outposts in Benghazi. The New York Times has obtained about a third of the 850 pages of emails.
They capture the correspondence and concerns expressed among Mrs. Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time, and her advisers following the attacks, which claimed the lives of the American ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens, and three other Americans.
The emails also offer occasional glimpses into the private side of Mrs. Clinton’s life, such as her public-radio listening habits and the fact that she was complimented for how she looked in a photo that appeared on the front page of The Times.
In response to requests from the news media and Mrs. Clinton, who has said she wants the emails to be made public, the State Department has drawn up plans to release them.
The emails appear to back up Mrs. Clinton’s previous assertions that she did not receive classified information at her private email address.
But some of the emails contain what the government calls “sensitive” information or “SBU” — sensitive but unclassified. This includes details of the whereabouts of State Department officials in Libya when security there was deteriorating during the 2011 revolution. One email from a year and a half before the attacks that was marked sensitive but unclassified contained the whereabouts of Mr. Stevens as he considered leaving Benghazi during the uprising against the Qaddafi regime because of the deteriorating security.
“The envoy’s delegation is currently doing a phased checkout (paying the hotel bills, moving some comms to the boat, etc.),” said the email that was forwarded to Mrs. Clinton from a close aide, Huma Abedin. “He will monitor the situation to see if it deteriorates further, but no decision has been made on departure. He will wait 2-3 more hours, then revisit the decision on departure.”
The emails also show that Mrs. Clinton was circulating information about the attacks in Benghazi that contradicted the Obama administration’s initial narrative of what occurred, and that she was concerned about how Republicans could use the incidents to undermine President Obama.
The emails show that even those at the highest levels of government engage in occasional flattering of those above them. In March 2011, Mrs. Clinton received an email from Ann-Marie Slaughter, the director of policy planning for the State Department, who was leaving her position.
“Gorgeous pic on the front page of the NYT!” Ms. Slaughter said, referring to a photo of Mrs. Clinton. “One for the wall...” Ms. Slaughter then moved on to more serious matters, including her opposition to arming the rebels in Libya.
It is not clear when the vast majority of Mrs. Clinton’s emails will be made public. The State Department has described the process of vetting and releasing them as time-consuming and had proposed to release them by January 2016. But a federal judge this week rejected that plan, suggesting that the department come up with a plan for a “rolling” release of the emails.
The intense interest in the emails stems in part from the revelation this year that Mrs. Clinton exclusively used a private email address to conduct her government work as secretary of state.
From: Jennifer Palmieri [mailto:jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:34 PM
To: Tyson Brody
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Ian Sams; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
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WSJ is live blogging their deep dive of the emails:
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/05/22/hillary-clintons-benghazi-emails-live-dive/
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:44 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri; Tyson Brody
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
NYT: First Batch of Hillary Clinton Emails Captures Concerns Over Libya
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDTMAY 21, 2015
WASHINGTON — The State Department is expected to release the first batch of emails from Hillary Rodham Clinton’s private email address in the coming days.
The emails set for release, drawn from some 55,000 pages and focused on Libya, have already been turned over to the special House committee investigating the 2012 attacks on the United States outposts in Benghazi. The New York Times has obtained about a third of the 850 pages of emails.
They capture the correspondence and concerns expressed among Mrs. Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time, and her advisers following the attacks, which claimed the lives of the American ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens, and three other Americans.
The emails also offer occasional glimpses into the private side of Mrs. Clinton’s life, such as her public-radio listening habits and the fact that she was complimented for how she looked in a photo that appeared on the front page of The Times.
In response to requests from the news media and Mrs. Clinton, who has said she wants the emails to be made public, the State Department has drawn up plans to release them.
The emails appear to back up Mrs. Clinton’s previous assertions that she did not receive classified information at her private email address.
But some of the emails contain what the government calls “sensitive” information or “SBU” — sensitive but unclassified. This includes details of the whereabouts of State Department officials in Libya when security there was deteriorating during the 2011 revolution. One email from a year and a half before the attacks that was marked sensitive but unclassified contained the whereabouts of Mr. Stevens as he considered leaving Benghazi during the uprising against the Qaddafi regime because of the deteriorating security.
“The envoy’s delegation is currently doing a phased checkout (paying the hotel bills, moving some comms to the boat, etc.),” said the email that was forwarded to Mrs. Clinton from a close aide, Huma Abedin. “He will monitor the situation to see if it deteriorates further, but no decision has been made on departure. He will wait 2-3 more hours, then revisit the decision on departure.”
The emails also show that Mrs. Clinton was circulating information about the attacks in Benghazi that contradicted the Obama administration’s initial narrative of what occurred, and that she was concerned about how Republicans could use the incidents to undermine President Obama.
The emails show that even those at the highest levels of government engage in occasional flattering of those above them. In March 2011, Mrs. Clinton received an email from Ann-Marie Slaughter, the director of policy planning for the State Department, who was leaving her position.
“Gorgeous pic on the front page of the NYT!” Ms. Slaughter said, referring to a photo of Mrs. Clinton. “One for the wall...” Ms. Slaughter then moved on to more serious matters, including her opposition to arming the rebels in Libya.
It is not clear when the vast majority of Mrs. Clinton’s emails will be made public. The State Department has described the process of vetting and releasing them as time-consuming and had proposed to release them by January 2016. But a federal judge this week rejected that plan, suggesting that the department come up with a plan for a “rolling” release of the emails.
The intense interest in the emails stems in part from the revelation this year that Mrs. Clinton exclusively used a private email address to conduct her government work as secretary of state.
From: Jennifer Palmieri [mailto:jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:34 PM
To: Tyson Brody
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Ian Sams; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
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>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
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Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
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On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhoneShould someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDTThe first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74LOn Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
--Josh SchwerinSpokespersonHillary for America@JoshSchwerin
Sent from my iPhone
They concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhoneShould someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDTThe first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74LOn Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
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VIDEO: @HillaryClinton Pressed On Receiving Now-Classified And Sensitive Information youtube.com/watch?v=qdiQxJ…
HRC took three or four q's. Sounds like it went well. Hopefully we will see soon on msnbc or cnn. Varun will transcribe.
Sent from my iPhoneThey concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhoneShould someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDTThe first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74LOn Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
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Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
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Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
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--Josh SchwerinSpokespersonHillary for America@JoshSchwerin
Sorry for the mixup earlier when I sent an old NYT clip. Here’s their latest on the release:
1:16PM ET
By Michael S. SchmidtState Department Releases Hillary Clinton Emails
WASHINGTON — The State Department said on Friday it was releasing 296 emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton sent and received when she was secretary of state.
The emails are the first tranche of many that will be released by the State Department over the next year. After it was revealed in March that Mrs. Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account when she was secretary of state, she asked the State Department to release all of the emails she had provided it from her time in office.
The State Department said the emails it was releasing Friday were provided to a specially appointed House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The emails were sent from January 2011 and December 2012, the State Department said.
The New York Times on Thursday obtained and published an initial batch of the emails online.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” the State Department said.
The website that the State Department uses was not working on Friday when it said it was releasing the emails.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:53 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
America Rising is already clipping and pushing her gaggle Q&A on the emails, which is weird since she did a good job.
VIDEO: @HillaryClinton Pressed On Receiving Now-Classified And Sensitive Information youtube.com/watch?v=qdiQxJ…
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
HRC took three or four q's. Sounds like it went well. Hopefully we will see soon on msnbc or cnn. Varun will transcribe.
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:45 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:They concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
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--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
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Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
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--
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Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
--
Sorry for the mixup earlier when I sent an old NYT clip. Here’s their latest on the release:
1:16PM ET
By Michael S. SchmidtState Department Releases Hillary Clinton Emails
WASHINGTON — The State Department said on Friday it was releasing 296 emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton sent and received when she was secretary of state.
The emails are the first tranche of many that will be released by the State Department over the next year. After it was revealed in March that Mrs. Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account when she was secretary of state, she asked the State Department to release all of the emails she had provided it from her time in office.
The State Department said the emails it was releasing Friday were provided to a specially appointed House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The emails were sent from January 2011 and December 2012, the State Department said.
The New York Times on Thursday obtained and published an initial batch of the emails online.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” the State Department said.
The website that the State Department uses was not working on Friday when it said it was releasing the emails.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:53 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
America Rising is already clipping and pushing her gaggle Q&A on the emails, which is weird since she did a good job.
VIDEO: @HillaryClinton Pressed On Receiving Now-Classified And Sensitive Information youtube.com/watch?v=qdiQxJ…
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
HRC took three or four q's. Sounds like it went well. Hopefully we will see soon on msnbc or cnn. Varun will transcribe.
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:45 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:They concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
> --
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--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
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Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
--
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Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
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--She took a few questions. Andrea gave her the direct question and she nailed it.Follow up about whether the private server put security at risk, she said flatly "No."TPP, which she was right on message on.A question about Iraq, she said no ground troops.Transcript to follow from Varun shortly.--Sorry for the mixup earlier when I sent an old NYT clip. Here’s their latest on the release:
1:16PM ET
By Michael S. Schmidt
State Department Releases Hillary Clinton Emails
WASHINGTON — The State Department said on Friday it was releasing 296 emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton sent and received when she was secretary of state.
The emails are the first tranche of many that will be released by the State Department over the next year. After it was revealed in March that Mrs. Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account when she was secretary of state, she asked the State Department to release all of the emails she had provided it from her time in office.
The State Department said the emails it was releasing Friday were provided to a specially appointed House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The emails were sent from January 2011 and December 2012, the State Department said.
The New York Times on Thursday obtained and published an initial batch of the emails online.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” the State Department said.
The website that the State Department uses was not working on Friday when it said it was releasing the emails.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:53 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
America Rising is already clipping and pushing her gaggle Q&A on the emails, which is weird since she did a good job.
VIDEO: @HillaryClinton Pressed On Receiving Now-Classified And Sensitive Information youtube.com/watch?v=qdiQxJ…
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
HRC took three or four q's. Sounds like it went well. Hopefully we will see soon on msnbc or cnn. Varun will transcribe.
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:45 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:They concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
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Of note from the WSJ live blog:
· 1:34 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was given in-depth operational details of a visit by Chris Stevens to Benghazi in 2011, according to an email forwarded to her on March 27, 2011. Mr. Stevens — who was then serving as special representative to Libya’s transitional government — was killed in Benghazi during the September 2012 attacks.
The former secretary of state has maintained that the real-time operational details of diplomatic security were handled below her level. But information on the logistics around a 2011 visit to Benghazi were forwarded to Mrs. Clinton, according to emails released Friday.
· 1:37 pm
· by Daniel Nasaw
·
Here’s the memo Byron just referred to.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:57 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Sorry for the mixup earlier when I sent an old NYT clip. Here’s their latest on the release:
1:16PM ET
By Michael S. SchmidtState Department Releases Hillary Clinton Emails
WASHINGTON — The State Department said on Friday it was releasing 296 emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton sent and received when she was secretary of state.
The emails are the first tranche of many that will be released by the State Department over the next year. After it was revealed in March that Mrs. Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account when she was secretary of state, she asked the State Department to release all of the emails she had provided it from her time in office.
The State Department said the emails it was releasing Friday were provided to a specially appointed House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The emails were sent from January 2011 and December 2012, the State Department said.
The New York Times on Thursday obtained and published an initial batch of the emails online.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” the State Department said.
The website that the State Department uses was not working on Friday when it said it was releasing the emails.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:53 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
America Rising is already clipping and pushing her gaggle Q&A on the emails, which is weird since she did a good job.
VIDEO: @HillaryClinton Pressed On Receiving Now-Classified And Sensitive Information youtube.com/watch?v=qdiQxJ…
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
HRC took three or four q's. Sounds like it went well. Hopefully we will see soon on msnbc or cnn. Varun will transcribe.
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:45 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:They concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
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>>
>>
>
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Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
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Another:
· 2:08 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was informed several times in 2011 about the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi and the dangers that diplomatic staff on the ground were facing, emails show.
Chris Stevens, then a special representative to the transitional government, considered aborting a mission in Benghazi in April 2011 because of the danger. But State Department officials warned that an abrupt departure would send a signal.
“Departure would send a significant political signal, and would be interpreted as the U.S. losing confidence in the [Libyan transitional government],” a state department staff member named Timmy Davis wrote in a note forwarded to Mrs. Clinton.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:03 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Of note from the WSJ live blog:
· 1:34 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was given in-depth operational details of a visit by Chris Stevens to Benghazi in 2011, according to an email forwarded to her on March 27, 2011. Mr. Stevens — who was then serving as special representative to Libya’s transitional government — was killed in Benghazi during the September 2012 attacks.
The former secretary of state has maintained that the real-time operational details of diplomatic security were handled below her level. But information on the logistics around a 2011 visit to Benghazi were forwarded to Mrs. Clinton, according to emails released Friday.
· 1:37 pm
· by Daniel Nasaw
·
Here’s the memo Byron just referred to.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:57 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Sorry for the mixup earlier when I sent an old NYT clip. Here’s their latest on the release:
1:16PM ET
By Michael S. SchmidtState Department Releases Hillary Clinton Emails
WASHINGTON — The State Department said on Friday it was releasing 296 emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton sent and received when she was secretary of state.
The emails are the first tranche of many that will be released by the State Department over the next year. After it was revealed in March that Mrs. Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account when she was secretary of state, she asked the State Department to release all of the emails she had provided it from her time in office.
The State Department said the emails it was releasing Friday were provided to a specially appointed House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The emails were sent from January 2011 and December 2012, the State Department said.
The New York Times on Thursday obtained and published an initial batch of the emails online.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” the State Department said.
The website that the State Department uses was not working on Friday when it said it was releasing the emails.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:53 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
America Rising is already clipping and pushing her gaggle Q&A on the emails, which is weird since she did a good job.
VIDEO: @HillaryClinton Pressed On Receiving Now-Classified And Sensitive Information youtube.com/watch?v=qdiQxJ…
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
HRC took three or four q's. Sounds like it went well. Hopefully we will see soon on msnbc or cnn. Varun will transcribe.
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:45 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:They concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
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--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
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Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
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You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
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@JoshSchwerin
--
http://time.com/3894674/hillary-clinton-emails-benghazi/
State Department Releases Hillary Clinton’s Emails on Benghazi
2:10 PM ET
The State Department released hundreds of emails Friday that were stored on Hillary Clinton’s private server during her time as Secretary of State.
The emails, which pertain to the Benghazi terror attacks in September 2012, do not change the official assessment of the incident in which a U.S. ambassador was killed, the State Department said. “The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote spokeswoman Marie Harf.
Clinton, who wants to avoid the controversy over her emails and Benghazi stretching into the primary and general election next year, told reporters in Hampton, N.H. on Friday that the released emails had previously been sent to the committee investigating the Benghazi attack in 2012. “I’m glad that the emails are starting to come out. It is something that I’ve asked to be done, as you know, for a long time. Those releases are beginning,” Clinton said.
But the release further complicates Clinton’s unusual set-up of using a personal email server for official use. Sensitive information and email addresses in dozens of emails have been redacted under privacy and exemptions to the Freedom of Information Act protecting internal agency deliberations.
According to a senior State Department official, 23 words in a single email were classified Friday at the request of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The email was unclassified while it resided on Clinton’s server and when it was sent to the House Select Committee on Benghazi. The official said the retroactive classification does not mean Clinton did anything improper at the time, adding “this happens several times a month” when FOIA reports are prepared for the public.
“I’m aware that the FBI has asked that a portion of one email be held back. That happens in this process,” Clinton said on Friday. “That doesn’t change the fact that all of the information in the emails was handled appropriately.”
The email in question is in reference to reports that Libyan police arrested several individuals believed to have been involved in the Benghazi attack, and the classified portion appears to refer the details of the local regional security officer’s report on the arrests. State Department Office of Maghreb Affairs Director William V. Roebuck sent the note to Acting Assistant Secretary of State for the Near East Beth Jones, who forwarded it to top Clinton aide Jake Sullivan, who forwarded it to Clinton at her personal address.
Those 23 words will be classified through November 18, 2032—twenty years after the email was first sent.
Clinton has asked that the State Department speed up the release of her work emails. “I’ve said from the very beginning that I want them to release all of them as soon as possible. They are in the process of doing that. I understand that there is a certain protocol that has to be followed,” Clinton said. “It’s beginning. I would like to see them expedited to get more of them out, more quickly.”
The emails provide insight into Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State, and Clinton herself has said she wants the public to learn more about her role as the country’s chief diplomat.
With reporting by Phil Elliott
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:15 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Another:
· 2:08 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was informed several times in 2011 about the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi and the dangers that diplomatic staff on the ground were facing, emails show.
Chris Stevens, then a special representative to the transitional government, considered aborting a mission in Benghazi in April 2011 because of the danger. But State Department officials warned that an abrupt departure would send a signal.
“Departure would send a significant political signal, and would be interpreted as the U.S. losing confidence in the [Libyan transitional government],” a state department staff member named Timmy Davis wrote in a note forwarded to Mrs. Clinton.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:03 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Of note from the WSJ live blog:
· 1:34 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was given in-depth operational details of a visit by Chris Stevens to Benghazi in 2011, according to an email forwarded to her on March 27, 2011. Mr. Stevens — who was then serving as special representative to Libya’s transitional government — was killed in Benghazi during the September 2012 attacks.
The former secretary of state has maintained that the real-time operational details of diplomatic security were handled below her level. But information on the logistics around a 2011 visit to Benghazi were forwarded to Mrs. Clinton, according to emails released Friday.
· 1:37 pm
· by Daniel Nasaw
·
Here’s the memo Byron just referred to.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:57 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Sorry for the mixup earlier when I sent an old NYT clip. Here’s their latest on the release:
1:16PM ET
By Michael S. SchmidtState Department Releases Hillary Clinton Emails
WASHINGTON — The State Department said on Friday it was releasing 296 emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton sent and received when she was secretary of state.
The emails are the first tranche of many that will be released by the State Department over the next year. After it was revealed in March that Mrs. Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account when she was secretary of state, she asked the State Department to release all of the emails she had provided it from her time in office.
The State Department said the emails it was releasing Friday were provided to a specially appointed House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The emails were sent from January 2011 and December 2012, the State Department said.
The New York Times on Thursday obtained and published an initial batch of the emails online.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” the State Department said.
The website that the State Department uses was not working on Friday when it said it was releasing the emails.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:53 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
America Rising is already clipping and pushing her gaggle Q&A on the emails, which is weird since she did a good job.
VIDEO: @HillaryClinton Pressed On Receiving Now-Classified And Sensitive Information youtube.com/watch?v=qdiQxJ…
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
HRC took three or four q's. Sounds like it went well. Hopefully we will see soon on msnbc or cnn. Varun will transcribe.
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:45 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:They concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
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>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
> --
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--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
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Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
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To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
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Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
--
AP: Clinton: all information in emails 'handled appropriately'
By KEN THOMAS
May. 22, 2015 2:11 PM EDT
HAMPTON, N.H. (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton says all of the information contained in her emails from her time as secretary of state related to Benghazi, Libya, was handled appropriately.
The 296 emails concerning the attack on U.S. facilities that killed four people were released Friday. Clinton sent and received the emails via a personal account and private server she kept at home.
Campaigning in New Hampshire, Clinton said, "I'm glad that the emails are starting to come out. This is something that I've asked to be done."
Clinton said she knows the FBI asked that one of the emails be classified. She says, "that doesn't change the fact all of the information in the emails was handled appropriately."
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:21 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
http://time.com/3894674/hillary-clinton-emails-benghazi/
State Department Releases Hillary Clinton’s Emails on Benghazi
2:10 PM ET
The State Department released hundreds of emails Friday that were stored on Hillary Clinton’s private server during her time as Secretary of State.
The emails, which pertain to the Benghazi terror attacks in September 2012, do not change the official assessment of the incident in which a U.S. ambassador was killed, the State Department said. “The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote spokeswoman Marie Harf.
Clinton, who wants to avoid the controversy over her emails and Benghazi stretching into the primary and general election next year, told reporters in Hampton, N.H. on Friday that the released emails had previously been sent to the committee investigating the Benghazi attack in 2012. “I’m glad that the emails are starting to come out. It is something that I’ve asked to be done, as you know, for a long time. Those releases are beginning,” Clinton said.
But the release further complicates Clinton’s unusual set-up of using a personal email server for official use. Sensitive information and email addresses in dozens of emails have been redacted under privacy and exemptions to the Freedom of Information Act protecting internal agency deliberations.
According to a senior State Department official, 23 words in a single email were classified Friday at the request of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The email was unclassified while it resided on Clinton’s server and when it was sent to the House Select Committee on Benghazi. The official said the retroactive classification does not mean Clinton did anything improper at the time, adding “this happens several times a month” when FOIA reports are prepared for the public.
“I’m aware that the FBI has asked that a portion of one email be held back. That happens in this process,” Clinton said on Friday. “That doesn’t change the fact that all of the information in the emails was handled appropriately.”
The email in question is in reference to reports that Libyan police arrested several individuals believed to have been involved in the Benghazi attack, and the classified portion appears to refer the details of the local regional security officer’s report on the arrests. State Department Office of Maghreb Affairs Director William V. Roebuck sent the note to Acting Assistant Secretary of State for the Near East Beth Jones, who forwarded it to top Clinton aide Jake Sullivan, who forwarded it to Clinton at her personal address.
Those 23 words will be classified through November 18, 2032—twenty years after the email was first sent.
Clinton has asked that the State Department speed up the release of her work emails. “I’ve said from the very beginning that I want them to release all of them as soon as possible. They are in the process of doing that. I understand that there is a certain protocol that has to be followed,” Clinton said. “It’s beginning. I would like to see them expedited to get more of them out, more quickly.”
The emails provide insight into Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State, and Clinton herself has said she wants the public to learn more about her role as the country’s chief diplomat.
With reporting by Phil Elliott
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:15 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Another:
· 2:08 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was informed several times in 2011 about the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi and the dangers that diplomatic staff on the ground were facing, emails show.
Chris Stevens, then a special representative to the transitional government, considered aborting a mission in Benghazi in April 2011 because of the danger. But State Department officials warned that an abrupt departure would send a signal.
“Departure would send a significant political signal, and would be interpreted as the U.S. losing confidence in the [Libyan transitional government],” a state department staff member named Timmy Davis wrote in a note forwarded to Mrs. Clinton.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:03 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Of note from the WSJ live blog:
· 1:34 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was given in-depth operational details of a visit by Chris Stevens to Benghazi in 2011, according to an email forwarded to her on March 27, 2011. Mr. Stevens — who was then serving as special representative to Libya’s transitional government — was killed in Benghazi during the September 2012 attacks.
The former secretary of state has maintained that the real-time operational details of diplomatic security were handled below her level. But information on the logistics around a 2011 visit to Benghazi were forwarded to Mrs. Clinton, according to emails released Friday.
· 1:37 pm
· by Daniel Nasaw
·
Here’s the memo Byron just referred to.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:57 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Sorry for the mixup earlier when I sent an old NYT clip. Here’s their latest on the release:
1:16PM ET
By Michael S. SchmidtState Department Releases Hillary Clinton Emails
WASHINGTON — The State Department said on Friday it was releasing 296 emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton sent and received when she was secretary of state.
The emails are the first tranche of many that will be released by the State Department over the next year. After it was revealed in March that Mrs. Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account when she was secretary of state, she asked the State Department to release all of the emails she had provided it from her time in office.
The State Department said the emails it was releasing Friday were provided to a specially appointed House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The emails were sent from January 2011 and December 2012, the State Department said.
The New York Times on Thursday obtained and published an initial batch of the emails online.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” the State Department said.
The website that the State Department uses was not working on Friday when it said it was releasing the emails.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:53 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
America Rising is already clipping and pushing her gaggle Q&A on the emails, which is weird since she did a good job.
VIDEO: @HillaryClinton Pressed On Receiving Now-Classified And Sensitive Information youtube.com/watch?v=qdiQxJ…
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
HRC took three or four q's. Sounds like it went well. Hopefully we will see soon on msnbc or cnn. Varun will transcribe.
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:45 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:They concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
--
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
- September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
- August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
- April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
- April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
- April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
- April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
- April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
- June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
- August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
- January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
- February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
- August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
Sent from my iPhone
--Another:
· 2:08 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was informed several times in 2011 about the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi and the dangers that diplomatic staff on the ground were facing, emails show.
Chris Stevens, then a special representative to the transitional government, considered aborting a mission in Benghazi in April 2011 because of the danger. But State Department officials warned that an abrupt departure would send a signal.
“Departure would send a significant political signal, and would be interpreted as the U.S. losing confidence in the [Libyan transitional government],” a state department staff member named Timmy Davis wrote in a note forwarded to Mrs. Clinton.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:03 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Of note from the WSJ live blog:
· 1:34 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was given in-depth operational details of a visit by Chris Stevens to Benghazi in 2011, according to an email forwarded to her on March 27, 2011. Mr. Stevens — who was then serving as special representative to Libya’s transitional government — was killed in Benghazi during the September 2012 attacks.
The former secretary of state has maintained that the real-time operational details of diplomatic security were handled below her level. But information on the logistics around a 2011 visit to Benghazi were forwarded to Mrs. Clinton, according to emails released Friday.
· 1:37 pm
· by Daniel Nasaw
·
Here’s the memo Byron just referred to.
<image001.jpg>
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:57 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Sorry for the mixup earlier when I sent an old NYT clip. Here’s their latest on the release:
1:16PM ET
By Michael S. Schmidt
State Department Releases Hillary Clinton Emails
WASHINGTON — The State Department said on Friday it was releasing 296 emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton sent and received when she was secretary of state.
The emails are the first tranche of many that will be released by the State Department over the next year. After it was revealed in March that Mrs. Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account when she was secretary of state, she asked the State Department to release all of the emails she had provided it from her time in office.
The State Department said the emails it was releasing Friday were provided to a specially appointed House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The emails were sent from January 2011 and December 2012, the State Department said.
The New York Times on Thursday obtained and published an initial batch of the emails online.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” the State Department said.
The website that the State Department uses was not working on Friday when it said it was releasing the emails.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:53 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
America Rising is already clipping and pushing her gaggle Q&A on the emails, which is weird since she did a good job.
VIDEO: @HillaryClinton Pressed On Receiving Now-Classified And Sensitive Information youtube.com/watch?v=qdiQxJ…
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
HRC took three or four q's. Sounds like it went well. Hopefully we will see soon on msnbc or cnn. Varun will transcribe.
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:45 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:They concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
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>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
> --
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> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
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To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
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Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
--
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To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
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Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
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To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
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ROBERT COSTA: What should the future of US policy in Iraq be? What is your vision for the US’s role in that country moving ahead?
HRC: Well I think it’s a very difficult situation and I basically agree with the policy that we are currently following. And that is American air support is available, American intelligence and surveillance is available, American trainers are trying to undo the damage that was done to the Iraqi army by Former Prime Minister Maliki who bears a very big part of the responsibility for what is happening inside Iraq today but at the end of the thought process that I engage in, in trying to figure out what we can do. This has to be fought by and won by Iraqis. There is no role whatsoever for American soldiers on the ground to go back other than in the capacity as trainers and advisors.
here's (sideways) video of her full avail since C-SPAN's cut out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyAh0Y5Q1zE&feature=youtu.be--On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:59 PM, Nick Merrill <nmerrill@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:--She took a few questions. Andrea gave her the direct question and she nailed it.Follow up about whether the private server put security at risk, she said flatly "No."TPP, which she was right on message on.A question about Iraq, she said no ground troops.Transcript to follow from Varun shortly.--Sorry for the mixup earlier when I sent an old NYT clip. Here’s their latest on the release:
1:16PM ET
By Michael S. Schmidt
State Department Releases Hillary Clinton Emails
WASHINGTON — The State Department said on Friday it was releasing 296 emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton sent and received when she was secretary of state.
The emails are the first tranche of many that will be released by the State Department over the next year. After it was revealed in March that Mrs. Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account when she was secretary of state, she asked the State Department to release all of the emails she had provided it from her time in office.
The State Department said the emails it was releasing Friday were provided to a specially appointed House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The emails were sent from January 2011 and December 2012, the State Department said.
The New York Times on Thursday obtained and published an initial batch of the emails online.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” the State Department said.
The website that the State Department uses was not working on Friday when it said it was releasing the emails.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:53 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
America Rising is already clipping and pushing her gaggle Q&A on the emails, which is weird since she did a good job.
VIDEO: @HillaryClinton Pressed On Receiving Now-Classified And Sensitive Information youtube.com/watch?v=qdiQxJ…
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
HRC took three or four q's. Sounds like it went well. Hopefully we will see soon on msnbc or cnn. Varun will transcribe.
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:45 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:They concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
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Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
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Jesse Lehrich | Rapid Response CommunicationsHillary For America781-307-2254 | @JesseLehrichgchat: JesseLehrich--
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PRESS Q&A TRANSCRIPTANDREA MITCHELL (NBC NEWS): On the emails, can you explain the criticisms of Chairman Dowdy are that your lawyer vetted these so they're not really a public release, and that you haven't really cooperated with putting everything out, and that at least one of these, included information that was classified because it involved the suspects in Benghazi.HRC: Well, I'm glad that the emails are starting to come out because this is something that I've asked to be done as you know for a long time, and those releases are beginning. I want people to see all of them, and it is the fact that we have released all of them that have any government relationship whatsoever. In fact, the State Department had the vast majority of those anyway because they went to what are called ".gov" accounts. I'm aware that the FBI has asked for a portion of one email be held back. That happens in the process of Freedom of Information Act responses. But that doesn't change the fact that all of the information in the emails was handled appropriately.PAUL STEINHAUSER (NH1): With the emails, are you going to recommend that the State Department release all of them as soon as possible?HRC: Yes, that has been my request, Paul, I've said since the very beginning. I want them to release all of them as soon as possible, and they are in the process of doing that. I understand there is a certain protocol to be followed, and they're following that. These that are being released today have been in the committee jurisdiction. They were given to the committee some months ago and now finally those are getting released. So it's beginning, I would just like to see it expedited so we can get more of them out more quickly.UNKNOWN REPORTER: ...*unclear* trade agreement?HRC: I have said repeatedly that I have a set of expectations -- you know -- about the trade agreement that it will grow jobs, and protect american workers, and create a more level playing field, and that it would be good for our national security. We don't yet have all the details; in fact, it's not -- I'm told -- been fully negotiated yet. I do have concerns. I have concerns that the standards will not be tough enough, that they will not be enforceable. I have concerns about currency manipulation, which has been a big problem in the impact on our companies and our workers. I have concerns about the investor-settlement-dispute mechanism that permits corporations to challenge health, environmental, and labor provisions. So I have some real concerns and I have said that I am going to make up my mind. I've been for trade agreements, I've been against trade agreements, voted for some, voted against others, so I want to judge this when I see exactly what exactly is in it and whether or not I think it meets my standards.ROBERT COSTA: What should the future of US policy in Iraq be? What is your vision for the US’s role in that country moving ahead?
HRC: Well I think it’s a very difficult situation and I basically agree with the policy that we are currently following. And that is American air support is available, American intelligence and surveillance is available, American trainers are trying to undo the damage that was done to the Iraqi army by Former Prime Minister Maliki who bears a very big part of the responsibility for what is happening inside Iraq today but at the end of the thought process that I engage in, in trying to figure out what we can do. This has to be fought by and won by Iraqis. There is no role whatsoever for American soldiers on the ground to go back other than in the capacity as trainers and advisors.UNKNOWN REPORTER: Many Americans don't believe that you've told the truth on Benghazi.HRC: Well I'm gonna let the Americans decide that. Thank you all.On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:00 PM, Jesse Lehrich <jlehrich@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:here's (sideways) video of her full avail since C-SPAN's cut out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyAh0Y5Q1zE&feature=youtu.be--On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:59 PM, Nick Merrill <nmerrill@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:--She took a few questions. Andrea gave her the direct question and she nailed it.Follow up about whether the private server put security at risk, she said flatly "No."TPP, which she was right on message on.A question about Iraq, she said no ground troops.Transcript to follow from Varun shortly.--Sorry for the mixup earlier when I sent an old NYT clip. Here’s their latest on the release:
1:16PM ET
By Michael S. Schmidt
State Department Releases Hillary Clinton Emails
WASHINGTON — The State Department said on Friday it was releasing 296 emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton sent and received when she was secretary of state.
The emails are the first tranche of many that will be released by the State Department over the next year. After it was revealed in March that Mrs. Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account when she was secretary of state, she asked the State Department to release all of the emails she had provided it from her time in office.
The State Department said the emails it was releasing Friday were provided to a specially appointed House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The emails were sent from January 2011 and December 2012, the State Department said.
The New York Times on Thursday obtained and published an initial batch of the emails online.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” the State Department said.
The website that the State Department uses was not working on Friday when it said it was releasing the emails.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:53 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
America Rising is already clipping and pushing her gaggle Q&A on the emails, which is weird since she did a good job.
VIDEO: @HillaryClinton Pressed On Receiving Now-Classified And Sensitive Information youtube.com/watch?v=qdiQxJ…
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
HRC took three or four q's. Sounds like it went well. Hopefully we will see soon on msnbc or cnn. Varun will transcribe.
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:45 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:They concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
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Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
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Jesse Lehrich | Rapid Response CommunicationsHillary For America781-307-2254 | @JesseLehrichgchat: JesseLehrich--
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In response to email w/ this story "Bloomberg: Libyan Ambassador's Death Not a Political Issue, Says Dad", @HillaryClinton says "very nice"
This is from the Gowdy release - per the question from Jon Allen at Reuters do we want to respond ?He makes 3 points, reporters picking up:1) the emails highlight "investigative questions".2) Emails show the Secretary had been warned about Benghazi3) There are gaps in what the committee has. (Note that the examples he cites happened before the actual attack)I suggest we don't respond to Gowdy and refer Allen to HRC remarks.Thoughts?Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
- September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
- August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
- April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
- April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
- April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
- April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
- April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
- June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
- August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
- January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
- February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
- August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
Sent from my iPhoneAnother:
· 2:08 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was informed several times in 2011 about the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi and the dangers that diplomatic staff on the ground were facing, emails show.
Chris Stevens, then a special representative to the transitional government, considered aborting a mission in Benghazi in April 2011 because of the danger. But State Department officials warned that an abrupt departure would send a signal.
“Departure would send a significant political signal, and would be interpreted as the U.S. losing confidence in the [Libyan transitional government],” a state department staff member named Timmy Davis wrote in a note forwarded to Mrs. Clinton.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:03 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Of note from the WSJ live blog:
· 1:34 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was given in-depth operational details of a visit by Chris Stevens to Benghazi in 2011, according to an email forwarded to her on March 27, 2011. Mr. Stevens — who was then serving as special representative to Libya’s transitional government — was killed in Benghazi during the September 2012 attacks.
The former secretary of state has maintained that the real-time operational details of diplomatic security were handled below her level. But information on the logistics around a 2011 visit to Benghazi were forwarded to Mrs. Clinton, according to emails released Friday.
· 1:37 pm
· by Daniel Nasaw
·
Here’s the memo Byron just referred to.
<image001.jpg>
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:57 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Sorry for the mixup earlier when I sent an old NYT clip. Here’s their latest on the release:
1:16PM ET
By Michael S. Schmidt
State Department Releases Hillary Clinton Emails
WASHINGTON — The State Department said on Friday it was releasing 296 emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton sent and received when she was secretary of state.
The emails are the first tranche of many that will be released by the State Department over the next year. After it was revealed in March that Mrs. Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account when she was secretary of state, she asked the State Department to release all of the emails she had provided it from her time in office.
The State Department said the emails it was releasing Friday were provided to a specially appointed House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The emails were sent from January 2011 and December 2012, the State Department said.
The New York Times on Thursday obtained and published an initial batch of the emails online.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” the State Department said.
The website that the State Department uses was not working on Friday when it said it was releasing the emails.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:53 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
America Rising is already clipping and pushing her gaggle Q&A on the emails, which is weird since she did a good job.
VIDEO: @HillaryClinton Pressed On Receiving Now-Classified And Sensitive Information youtube.com/watch?v=qdiQxJ…
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
HRC took three or four q's. Sounds like it went well. Hopefully we will see soon on msnbc or cnn. Varun will transcribe.
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:45 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:They concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
> --
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> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
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--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
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Josh Schwerin
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Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
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Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
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To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
Can we get the rest of this email?In response to email w/ this story "Bloomberg: Libyan Ambassador's Death Not a Political Issue, Says Dad", @HillaryClinton says "very nice"
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:23 PM, Karen Finney <kfinney@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:This is from the Gowdy release - per the question from Jon Allen at Reuters do we want to respond ?He makes 3 points, reporters picking up:1) the emails highlight "investigative questions".2) Emails show the Secretary had been warned about Benghazi3) There are gaps in what the committee has. (Note that the examples he cites happened before the actual attack)I suggest we don't respond to Gowdy and refer Allen to HRC remarks.Thoughts?Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
- September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
- August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
- April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
- April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
- April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
- April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
- April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
- June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
- August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
- January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
- February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
- August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
Sent from my iPhoneAnother:
· 2:08 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was informed several times in 2011 about the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi and the dangers that diplomatic staff on the ground were facing, emails show.
Chris Stevens, then a special representative to the transitional government, considered aborting a mission in Benghazi in April 2011 because of the danger. But State Department officials warned that an abrupt departure would send a signal.
“Departure would send a significant political signal, and would be interpreted as the U.S. losing confidence in the [Libyan transitional government],” a state department staff member named Timmy Davis wrote in a note forwarded to Mrs. Clinton.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:03 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Of note from the WSJ live blog:
· 1:34 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was given in-depth operational details of a visit by Chris Stevens to Benghazi in 2011, according to an email forwarded to her on March 27, 2011. Mr. Stevens — who was then serving as special representative to Libya’s transitional government — was killed in Benghazi during the September 2012 attacks.
The former secretary of state has maintained that the real-time operational details of diplomatic security were handled below her level. But information on the logistics around a 2011 visit to Benghazi were forwarded to Mrs. Clinton, according to emails released Friday.
· 1:37 pm
· by Daniel Nasaw
·
Here’s the memo Byron just referred to.
<image001.jpg>
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:57 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Sorry for the mixup earlier when I sent an old NYT clip. Here’s their latest on the release:
1:16PM ET
By Michael S. Schmidt
State Department Releases Hillary Clinton Emails
WASHINGTON — The State Department said on Friday it was releasing 296 emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton sent and received when she was secretary of state.
The emails are the first tranche of many that will be released by the State Department over the next year. After it was revealed in March that Mrs. Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account when she was secretary of state, she asked the State Department to release all of the emails she had provided it from her time in office.
The State Department said the emails it was releasing Friday were provided to a specially appointed House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The emails were sent from January 2011 and December 2012, the State Department said.
The New York Times on Thursday obtained and published an initial batch of the emails online.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” the State Department said.
The website that the State Department uses was not working on Friday when it said it was releasing the emails.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:53 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
America Rising is already clipping and pushing her gaggle Q&A on the emails, which is weird since she did a good job.
VIDEO: @HillaryClinton Pressed On Receiving Now-Classified And Sensitive Information youtube.com/watch?v=qdiQxJ…
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
HRC took three or four q's. Sounds like it went well. Hopefully we will see soon on msnbc or cnn. Varun will transcribe.
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:45 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:They concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
> --
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--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
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To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
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--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
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Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
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--
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--Josh SchwerinSpokespersonHillary for America@JoshSchwerin
What do you mean?On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:38 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Can we get the rest of this email?In response to email w/ this story "Bloomberg: Libyan Ambassador's Death Not a Political Issue, Says Dad", @HillaryClinton says "very nice"
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:23 PM, Karen Finney <kfinney@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:This is from the Gowdy release - per the question from Jon Allen at Reuters do we want to respond ?He makes 3 points, reporters picking up:1) the emails highlight "investigative questions".2) Emails show the Secretary had been warned about Benghazi3) There are gaps in what the committee has. (Note that the examples he cites happened before the actual attack)I suggest we don't respond to Gowdy and refer Allen to HRC remarks.Thoughts?Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
- September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
- August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
- April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
- April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
- April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
- April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
- April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
- June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
- August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
- January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
- February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
- August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
Sent from my iPhoneAnother:
· 2:08 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was informed several times in 2011 about the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi and the dangers that diplomatic staff on the ground were facing, emails show.
Chris Stevens, then a special representative to the transitional government, considered aborting a mission in Benghazi in April 2011 because of the danger. But State Department officials warned that an abrupt departure would send a signal.
“Departure would send a significant political signal, and would be interpreted as the U.S. losing confidence in the [Libyan transitional government],” a state department staff member named Timmy Davis wrote in a note forwarded to Mrs. Clinton.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:03 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Of note from the WSJ live blog:
· 1:34 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was given in-depth operational details of a visit by Chris Stevens to Benghazi in 2011, according to an email forwarded to her on March 27, 2011. Mr. Stevens — who was then serving as special representative to Libya’s transitional government — was killed in Benghazi during the September 2012 attacks.
The former secretary of state has maintained that the real-time operational details of diplomatic security were handled below her level. But information on the logistics around a 2011 visit to Benghazi were forwarded to Mrs. Clinton, according to emails released Friday.
· 1:37 pm
· by Daniel Nasaw
·
Here’s the memo Byron just referred to.
<image001.jpg>
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:57 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Sorry for the mixup earlier when I sent an old NYT clip. Here’s their latest on the release:
1:16PM ET
By Michael S. Schmidt
State Department Releases Hillary Clinton Emails
WASHINGTON — The State Department said on Friday it was releasing 296 emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton sent and received when she was secretary of state.
The emails are the first tranche of many that will be released by the State Department over the next year. After it was revealed in March that Mrs. Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account when she was secretary of state, she asked the State Department to release all of the emails she had provided it from her time in office.
The State Department said the emails it was releasing Friday were provided to a specially appointed House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The emails were sent from January 2011 and December 2012, the State Department said.
The New York Times on Thursday obtained and published an initial batch of the emails online.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” the State Department said.
The website that the State Department uses was not working on Friday when it said it was releasing the emails.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:53 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
America Rising is already clipping and pushing her gaggle Q&A on the emails, which is weird since she did a good job.
VIDEO: @HillaryClinton Pressed On Receiving Now-Classified And Sensitive Information youtube.com/watch?v=qdiQxJ…
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
HRC took three or four q's. Sounds like it went well. Hopefully we will see soon on msnbc or cnn. Varun will transcribe.
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:45 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:They concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015> Matt Lee@APDiploWriterhttp://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
--Josh SchwerinSpokespersonHillary for America@JoshSchwerin
Looks to have just been response to the clip. Email chain at bottom.
Hillary on Request From Chris Stevens Dad Not To Politicize Benghazi: 'Very Nice'
3:27 PM, MAY 22, 2015 • BY MICHAEL WARREN
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Hillary Clinton was forwarded an article a month after the terrorist attack on Benghazi that killed U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens that quoted Stevens's father. In the October 14, 2012, Bloomberg article, Jan Stevens, the late ambassador's father, was quoted saying that it would be "abhorrent" to make his son's death a political issue in the presidential campaign.
According to the State Department's release of several emails sent to Clinton's private email address, the link to the article was forwarded on the same day to State Department employee Chris Hensman, who forwarded it to Clinton advisers Cheryl Mills and Philippe Reines. Mills forwarded that email to Clinton.
"Very nice," replied Clinton. "Can you talk?" See a sreenshot of the email below:
From: Josh Schwerin [mailto:jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:41 PM
To: Cheryl Mills
Cc: Karen Finney; Ian Sams; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
The image posted on twitter just shows the top of the email. Wondering if there's any additional context that they cropped out
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:39 PM, Cheryl Mills <cheryl.mills@gmail.com> wrote:
What do you mean?
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:38 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Can we get the rest of this email?
In response to email w/ this story "Bloomberg: Libyan Ambassador's Death Not a Political Issue, Says Dad", @HillaryClinton says "very nice"
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:23 PM, Karen Finney <kfinney@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This is from the Gowdy release - per the question from Jon Allen at Reuters do we want to respond ?
He makes 3 points, reporters picking up:
1) the emails highlight "investigative questions".
2) Emails show the Secretary had been warned about Benghazi
3) There are gaps in what the committee has. (Note that the examples he cites happened before the actual attack)
I suggest we don't respond to Gowdy and refer Allen to HRC remarks.
Thoughts?
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 2:13 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Another:
· 2:08 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was informed several times in 2011 about the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi and the dangers that diplomatic staff on the ground were facing, emails show.
Chris Stevens, then a special representative to the transitional government, considered aborting a mission in Benghazi in April 2011 because of the danger. But State Department officials warned that an abrupt departure would send a signal.
“Departure would send a significant political signal, and would be interpreted as the U.S. losing confidence in the [Libyan transitional government],” a state department staff member named Timmy Davis wrote in a note forwarded to Mrs. Clinton.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:03 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Of note from the WSJ live blog:
· 1:34 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was given in-depth operational details of a visit by Chris Stevens to Benghazi in 2011, according to an email forwarded to her on March 27, 2011. Mr. Stevens — who was then serving as special representative to Libya’s transitional government — was killed in Benghazi during the September 2012 attacks.
The former secretary of state has maintained that the real-time operational details of diplomatic security were handled below her level. But information on the logistics around a 2011 visit to Benghazi were forwarded to Mrs. Clinton, according to emails released Friday.
· 1:37 pm
· by Daniel Nasaw
·
Here’s the memo Byron just referred to.
<image001.jpg>
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:57 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Sorry for the mixup earlier when I sent an old NYT clip. Here’s their latest on the release:
1:16PM ET
By Michael S. Schmidt
State Department Releases Hillary Clinton Emails
WASHINGTON — The State Department said on Friday it was releasing 296 emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton sent and received when she was secretary of state.
The emails are the first tranche of many that will be released by the State Department over the next year. After it was revealed in March that Mrs. Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account when she was secretary of state, she asked the State Department to release all of the emails she had provided it from her time in office.
The State Department said the emails it was releasing Friday were provided to a specially appointed House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The emails were sent from January 2011 and December 2012, the State Department said.
The New York Times on Thursday obtained and published an initial batch of the emails online.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” the State Department said.
The website that the State Department uses was not working on Friday when it said it was releasing the emails.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:53 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
America Rising is already clipping and pushing her gaggle Q&A on the emails, which is weird since she did a good job.
VIDEO: @HillaryClinton Pressed On Receiving Now-Classified And Sensitive Information youtube.com/watch?v=qdiQxJ…
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
HRC took three or four q's. Sounds like it went well. Hopefully we will see soon on msnbc or cnn. Varun will transcribe.
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:45 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:They concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
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Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
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@lachlan
HRC in Hard Choices: "My thoughts immediately went to Chris" (Stevens) HRC email on 9/11/12 asks abt "Chris Smith"
Looks to have just been response to the clip. Email chain at bottom.
Hillary on Request From Chris Stevens Dad Not To Politicize Benghazi: 'Very Nice'
3:27 PM, MAY 22, 2015 • BY MICHAEL WARREN
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Hillary Clinton was forwarded an article a month after the terrorist attack on Benghazi that killed U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens that quoted Stevens's father. In the October 14, 2012, Bloomberg article, Jan Stevens, the late ambassador's father, was quoted saying that it would be "abhorrent" to make his son's death a political issue in the presidential campaign.
According to the State Department's release of several emails sent to Clinton's private email address, the link to the article was forwarded on the same day to State Department employee Chris Hensman, who forwarded it to Clinton advisers Cheryl Mills and Philippe Reines. Mills forwarded that email to Clinton.
"Very nice," replied Clinton. "Can you talk?" See a sreenshot of the email below:
From: Josh Schwerin [mailto:jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:41 PM
To: Cheryl Mills
Cc: Karen Finney; Ian Sams; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
The image posted on twitter just shows the top of the email. Wondering if there's any additional context that they cropped out
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:39 PM, Cheryl Mills <cheryl.mills@gmail.com> wrote:
What do you mean?
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:38 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Can we get the rest of this email?
In response to email w/ this story "Bloomberg: Libyan Ambassador's Death Not a Political Issue, Says Dad", @HillaryClinton says "very nice"
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:23 PM, Karen Finney <kfinney@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This is from the Gowdy release - per the question from Jon Allen at Reuters do we want to respond ?
He makes 3 points, reporters picking up:
1) the emails highlight "investigative questions".
2) Emails show the Secretary had been warned about Benghazi
3) There are gaps in what the committee has. (Note that the examples he cites happened before the actual attack)
I suggest we don't respond to Gowdy and refer Allen to HRC remarks.
Thoughts?
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 2:13 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Another:
· 2:08 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was informed several times in 2011 about the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi and the dangers that diplomatic staff on the ground were facing, emails show.
Chris Stevens, then a special representative to the transitional government, considered aborting a mission in Benghazi in April 2011 because of the danger. But State Department officials warned that an abrupt departure would send a signal.
“Departure would send a significant political signal, and would be interpreted as the U.S. losing confidence in the [Libyan transitional government],” a state department staff member named Timmy Davis wrote in a note forwarded to Mrs. Clinton.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:03 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Of note from the WSJ live blog:
· 1:34 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was given in-depth operational details of a visit by Chris Stevens to Benghazi in 2011, according to an email forwarded to her on March 27, 2011. Mr. Stevens — who was then serving as special representative to Libya’s transitional government — was killed in Benghazi during the September 2012 attacks.
The former secretary of state has maintained that the real-time operational details of diplomatic security were handled below her level. But information on the logistics around a 2011 visit to Benghazi were forwarded to Mrs. Clinton, according to emails released Friday.
· 1:37 pm
· by Daniel Nasaw
·
Here’s the memo Byron just referred to.
<image001.jpg>
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:57 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Sorry for the mixup earlier when I sent an old NYT clip. Here’s their latest on the release:
1:16PM ET
By Michael S. Schmidt
State Department Releases Hillary Clinton Emails
WASHINGTON — The State Department said on Friday it was releasing 296 emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton sent and received when she was secretary of state.
The emails are the first tranche of many that will be released by the State Department over the next year. After it was revealed in March that Mrs. Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account when she was secretary of state, she asked the State Department to release all of the emails she had provided it from her time in office.
The State Department said the emails it was releasing Friday were provided to a specially appointed House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The emails were sent from January 2011 and December 2012, the State Department said.
The New York Times on Thursday obtained and published an initial batch of the emails online.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” the State Department said.
The website that the State Department uses was not working on Friday when it said it was releasing the emails.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:53 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
America Rising is already clipping and pushing her gaggle Q&A on the emails, which is weird since she did a good job.
VIDEO: @HillaryClinton Pressed On Receiving Now-Classified And Sensitive Information youtube.com/watch?v=qdiQxJ…
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
HRC took three or four q's. Sounds like it went well. Hopefully we will see soon on msnbc or cnn. Varun will transcribe.
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:45 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:They concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
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Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
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Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
Huma to Hillary: "I'm giving you credit for inspiring the "peaceful" protests." pic.twitter.com/DYrPSwEaHh
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:54 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Cheryl Mills; Karen Finney; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/601822415807770625
@lachlan
HRC in Hard Choices: "My thoughts immediately went to Chris" (Stevens) HRC email on 9/11/12 asks abt "Chris Smith"
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:46 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Looks to have just been response to the clip. Email chain at bottom.
Hillary on Request From Chris Stevens Dad Not To Politicize Benghazi: 'Very Nice'
3:27 PM, MAY 22, 2015 • BY MICHAEL WARREN
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Hillary Clinton was forwarded an article a month after the terrorist attack on Benghazi that killed U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens that quoted Stevens's father. In the October 14, 2012, Bloomberg article, Jan Stevens, the late ambassador's father, was quoted saying that it would be "abhorrent" to make his son's death a political issue in the presidential campaign.
According to the State Department's release of several emails sent to Clinton's private email address, the link to the article was forwarded on the same day to State Department employee Chris Hensman, who forwarded it to Clinton advisers Cheryl Mills and Philippe Reines. Mills forwarded that email to Clinton.
"Very nice," replied Clinton. "Can you talk?" See a sreenshot of the email below:
From: Josh Schwerin [mailto:jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:41 PM
To: Cheryl Mills
Cc: Karen Finney; Ian Sams; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
The image posted on twitter just shows the top of the email. Wondering if there's any additional context that they cropped out
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:39 PM, Cheryl Mills <cheryl.mills@gmail.com> wrote:
What do you mean?
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:38 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Can we get the rest of this email?
In response to email w/ this story "Bloomberg: Libyan Ambassador's Death Not a Political Issue, Says Dad", @HillaryClinton says "very nice"
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:23 PM, Karen Finney <kfinney@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This is from the Gowdy release - per the question from Jon Allen at Reuters do we want to respond ?
He makes 3 points, reporters picking up:
1) the emails highlight "investigative questions".
2) Emails show the Secretary had been warned about Benghazi
3) There are gaps in what the committee has. (Note that the examples he cites happened before the actual attack)
I suggest we don't respond to Gowdy and refer Allen to HRC remarks.
Thoughts?
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 2:13 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Another:
· 2:08 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was informed several times in 2011 about the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi and the dangers that diplomatic staff on the ground were facing, emails show.
Chris Stevens, then a special representative to the transitional government, considered aborting a mission in Benghazi in April 2011 because of the danger. But State Department officials warned that an abrupt departure would send a signal.
“Departure would send a significant political signal, and would be interpreted as the U.S. losing confidence in the [Libyan transitional government],” a state department staff member named Timmy Davis wrote in a note forwarded to Mrs. Clinton.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:03 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Of note from the WSJ live blog:
· 1:34 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was given in-depth operational details of a visit by Chris Stevens to Benghazi in 2011, according to an email forwarded to her on March 27, 2011. Mr. Stevens — who was then serving as special representative to Libya’s transitional government — was killed in Benghazi during the September 2012 attacks.
The former secretary of state has maintained that the real-time operational details of diplomatic security were handled below her level. But information on the logistics around a 2011 visit to Benghazi were forwarded to Mrs. Clinton, according to emails released Friday.
· 1:37 pm
· by Daniel Nasaw
·
Here’s the memo Byron just referred to.
<image001.jpg>
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:57 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Sorry for the mixup earlier when I sent an old NYT clip. Here’s their latest on the release:
1:16PM ET
By Michael S. Schmidt
State Department Releases Hillary Clinton Emails
WASHINGTON — The State Department said on Friday it was releasing 296 emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton sent and received when she was secretary of state.
The emails are the first tranche of many that will be released by the State Department over the next year. After it was revealed in March that Mrs. Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account when she was secretary of state, she asked the State Department to release all of the emails she had provided it from her time in office.
The State Department said the emails it was releasing Friday were provided to a specially appointed House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The emails were sent from January 2011 and December 2012, the State Department said.
The New York Times on Thursday obtained and published an initial batch of the emails online.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” the State Department said.
The website that the State Department uses was not working on Friday when it said it was releasing the emails.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:53 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
America Rising is already clipping and pushing her gaggle Q&A on the emails, which is weird since she did a good job.
VIDEO: @HillaryClinton Pressed On Receiving Now-Classified And Sensitive Information youtube.com/watch?v=qdiQxJ…
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
HRC took three or four q's. Sounds like it went well. Hopefully we will see soon on msnbc or cnn. Varun will transcribe.
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:45 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:They concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
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Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
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Hillary for America
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Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
The more it goes in this direction, the better…
The Clinton team praises Journal's Monica Langley
·
· 1
By DYLAN BYERS |
5/22/15 2:51 PM EDT
From the newly released batch of Hillary Clinton emails, here is correspondence from Oct. 11, 2012, among senior State Department adviser Phillipe Reines, Deputy Secretary of State Tom Nides and State Department Communications Director Caroline Adler following an interview Secretary Clinton gave to The Wall Street Journal's Monica Langley:
Reines:
Tom, was an awesome interview. Hrc was great, but I was really impressed by how good of an interviewer Monica is. One of the best I've ever seen. But she was her usual wacky self and pulled one move that I can't even describe so I'll let Caroline do - since you'll appreciate it given your familiarity with Monica Langley, Hillary Clinton, and the Secretary's chair arrangement in her outer office.
Adler:
This will be exciting when it's FOIA'd ...but will give you a sense of the interaction:
HRC. Monica, have a seat
::HRC motions toward a chair situated an appropriate distance from her preferred spot on the couch::
Monica: ll!!Sure!!!
::Monica proceeds to drag her chair within inches of the Secretary --leaning in even further::
Interview proceeds... and about midway.
Monica: Oh Hillary...2016 '16 '16
::Monica grabs HRO's knee::
HRC laughs awkwardly — glances at Philippe
Monica: ::leaning in further::
Oh Hillary...what do you eat? drink? dream about when you sleep?
::Monica again touches HRC's leg::
::Everybody laughs awkwardly — Philippe hardly able to contain himself::
Monica: They think I'm so funny (looking at Philippe and me.) HILL, can I ride on your lap to the White House?
...this went for about 51 minutes And I agree with Philippe- whatever she does, it works. It was a really great interview.
Nides:
I may go and throw up since I am laughing so hard
Reines (cc'ing Sec. Clinton):
+Hrc
Tom, she moved that yellow chair as close as it went. Knee to knee. Amazed she didn't try knee in between knee. And if that wasn't enough, she leaned forward. More like a pivot, as far as her torso could fold forward to minimize the space between their heads. Was like the dental hygienist rolling around the floor to get the best access to your mouth depending on what tooth she was trying to get access to I've never seen a Westerner invade her space like that And even the non Westerners I've seen do it based on cultural differences have been only briefly to greet, This went on like that for 51 minutes - unacceptable in any culture. I don't even think you see that behavior among any type of mammal. The touching the leg and repeatedly calling her 'Hillary' was just gravy.
But it was wonderful. One of the best interviews I've ever witnessed. Wish it were on live tv.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 3:11 PM
To: Tyson Brody
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Cheryl Mills; Karen Finney; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Huma to Hillary: "I'm giving you credit for inspiring the "peaceful" protests." pic.twitter.com/DYrPSwEaHh
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:54 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Cheryl Mills; Karen Finney; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/601822415807770625
@lachlan
HRC in Hard Choices: "My thoughts immediately went to Chris" (Stevens) HRC email on 9/11/12 asks abt "Chris Smith"
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:46 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Looks to have just been response to the clip. Email chain at bottom.
Hillary on Request From Chris Stevens Dad Not To Politicize Benghazi: 'Very Nice'
3:27 PM, MAY 22, 2015 • BY MICHAEL WARREN
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Hillary Clinton was forwarded an article a month after the terrorist attack on Benghazi that killed U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens that quoted Stevens's father. In the October 14, 2012, Bloomberg article, Jan Stevens, the late ambassador's father, was quoted saying that it would be "abhorrent" to make his son's death a political issue in the presidential campaign.
According to the State Department's release of several emails sent to Clinton's private email address, the link to the article was forwarded on the same day to State Department employee Chris Hensman, who forwarded it to Clinton advisers Cheryl Mills and Philippe Reines. Mills forwarded that email to Clinton.
"Very nice," replied Clinton. "Can you talk?" See a sreenshot of the email below:
From: Josh Schwerin [mailto:jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:41 PM
To: Cheryl Mills
Cc: Karen Finney; Ian Sams; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
The image posted on twitter just shows the top of the email. Wondering if there's any additional context that they cropped out
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:39 PM, Cheryl Mills <cheryl.mills@gmail.com> wrote:
What do you mean?
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:38 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Can we get the rest of this email?
In response to email w/ this story "Bloomberg: Libyan Ambassador's Death Not a Political Issue, Says Dad", @HillaryClinton says "very nice"
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:23 PM, Karen Finney <kfinney@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This is from the Gowdy release - per the question from Jon Allen at Reuters do we want to respond ?
He makes 3 points, reporters picking up:
1) the emails highlight "investigative questions".
2) Emails show the Secretary had been warned about Benghazi
3) There are gaps in what the committee has. (Note that the examples he cites happened before the actual attack)
I suggest we don't respond to Gowdy and refer Allen to HRC remarks.
Thoughts?
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 2:13 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Another:
· 2:08 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was informed several times in 2011 about the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi and the dangers that diplomatic staff on the ground were facing, emails show.
Chris Stevens, then a special representative to the transitional government, considered aborting a mission in Benghazi in April 2011 because of the danger. But State Department officials warned that an abrupt departure would send a signal.
“Departure would send a significant political signal, and would be interpreted as the U.S. losing confidence in the [Libyan transitional government],” a state department staff member named Timmy Davis wrote in a note forwarded to Mrs. Clinton.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:03 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Of note from the WSJ live blog:
· 1:34 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was given in-depth operational details of a visit by Chris Stevens to Benghazi in 2011, according to an email forwarded to her on March 27, 2011. Mr. Stevens — who was then serving as special representative to Libya’s transitional government — was killed in Benghazi during the September 2012 attacks.
The former secretary of state has maintained that the real-time operational details of diplomatic security were handled below her level. But information on the logistics around a 2011 visit to Benghazi were forwarded to Mrs. Clinton, according to emails released Friday.
· 1:37 pm
· by Daniel Nasaw
·
Here’s the memo Byron just referred to.
<image001.jpg>
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:57 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Sorry for the mixup earlier when I sent an old NYT clip. Here’s their latest on the release:
1:16PM ET
By Michael S. Schmidt
State Department Releases Hillary Clinton Emails
WASHINGTON — The State Department said on Friday it was releasing 296 emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton sent and received when she was secretary of state.
The emails are the first tranche of many that will be released by the State Department over the next year. After it was revealed in March that Mrs. Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account when she was secretary of state, she asked the State Department to release all of the emails she had provided it from her time in office.
The State Department said the emails it was releasing Friday were provided to a specially appointed House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The emails were sent from January 2011 and December 2012, the State Department said.
The New York Times on Thursday obtained and published an initial batch of the emails online.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” the State Department said.
The website that the State Department uses was not working on Friday when it said it was releasing the emails.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:53 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
America Rising is already clipping and pushing her gaggle Q&A on the emails, which is weird since she did a good job.
VIDEO: @HillaryClinton Pressed On Receiving Now-Classified And Sensitive Information youtube.com/watch?v=qdiQxJ…
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
HRC took three or four q's. Sounds like it went well. Hopefully we will see soon on msnbc or cnn. Varun will transcribe.
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:45 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:They concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
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--
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Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
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Hillary for America
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Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
http://www.vox.com/2015/5/22/8646231/clinton-aide-libya-benghazi
Benghazi emails reveal Clinton team thought Libya was her marquee achievement
Updated by Jonathan Allen on May 22, 2015, 3:00 p.m. ET
A top State Department official boasted of Hillary Clinton's "leadership/ownership/stewardship of this country's Libya policy from start to finish" a little more than a year before the attack that killed four Americans at a US compound in Benghazi.
That assessment, offered up in an email from Clinton Deputy Chief of Staff Jake Sullivan to fellow State Department aides Cheryl Mills and Victoria Nuland, is contained in a trove of emails the agency turned over Friday to the House committee investigating the Benghazi attack.
Written in August 2011, it shows that Clinton's aides once viewed her role in the US-backed intervention in Libya as a marquee achievement.
"HRC has been a critical voice on Libya in administration deliberations, at NATO, and in contact group meetings," Sullivan wrote. "She was instrumental in securing the authorization, building the coalition, and tightening the noose around Qadhafi and his regime."
Sullivan also recounts the key days of diplomacy in March 2011 that led to the creation of the coalition that attacked Gaddafi.
And Clinton's efforts on Capitol Hill.
Thirteen months later, the killing of four Americans in Libya, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, would make it impossible for Clinton to cast the US-backed intervention as a success or an achievement on her part.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 3:15 PM
To: Tyson Brody
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Cheryl Mills; Karen Finney; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
The more it goes in this direction, the better…
The Clinton team praises Journal's Monica Langley
·
· 1
By DYLAN BYERS |
5/22/15 2:51 PM EDT
From the newly released batch of Hillary Clinton emails, here is correspondence from Oct. 11, 2012, among senior State Department adviser Phillipe Reines, Deputy Secretary of State Tom Nides and State Department Communications Director Caroline Adler following an interview Secretary Clinton gave to The Wall Street Journal's Monica Langley:
Reines:
Tom, was an awesome interview. Hrc was great, but I was really impressed by how good of an interviewer Monica is. One of the best I've ever seen. But she was her usual wacky self and pulled one move that I can't even describe so I'll let Caroline do - since you'll appreciate it given your familiarity with Monica Langley, Hillary Clinton, and the Secretary's chair arrangement in her outer office.
Adler:
This will be exciting when it's FOIA'd ...but will give you a sense of the interaction:
HRC. Monica, have a seat
::HRC motions toward a chair situated an appropriate distance from her preferred spot on the couch::
Monica: ll!!Sure!!!
::Monica proceeds to drag her chair within inches of the Secretary --leaning in even further::
Interview proceeds... and about midway.
Monica: Oh Hillary...2016 '16 '16
::Monica grabs HRO's knee::
HRC laughs awkwardly — glances at Philippe
Monica: ::leaning in further::
Oh Hillary...what do you eat? drink? dream about when you sleep?
::Monica again touches HRC's leg::
::Everybody laughs awkwardly — Philippe hardly able to contain himself::
Monica: They think I'm so funny (looking at Philippe and me.) HILL, can I ride on your lap to the White House?
...this went for about 51 minutes And I agree with Philippe- whatever she does, it works. It was a really great interview.
Nides:
I may go and throw up since I am laughing so hard
Reines (cc'ing Sec. Clinton):
+Hrc
Tom, she moved that yellow chair as close as it went. Knee to knee. Amazed she didn't try knee in between knee. And if that wasn't enough, she leaned forward. More like a pivot, as far as her torso could fold forward to minimize the space between their heads. Was like the dental hygienist rolling around the floor to get the best access to your mouth depending on what tooth she was trying to get access to I've never seen a Westerner invade her space like that And even the non Westerners I've seen do it based on cultural differences have been only briefly to greet, This went on like that for 51 minutes - unacceptable in any culture. I don't even think you see that behavior among any type of mammal. The touching the leg and repeatedly calling her 'Hillary' was just gravy.
But it was wonderful. One of the best interviews I've ever witnessed. Wish it were on live tv.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 3:11 PM
To: Tyson Brody
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Cheryl Mills; Karen Finney; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Huma to Hillary: "I'm giving you credit for inspiring the "peaceful" protests." pic.twitter.com/DYrPSwEaHh
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:54 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Cheryl Mills; Karen Finney; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/601822415807770625
@lachlan
HRC in Hard Choices: "My thoughts immediately went to Chris" (Stevens) HRC email on 9/11/12 asks abt "Chris Smith"
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:46 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Looks to have just been response to the clip. Email chain at bottom.
Hillary on Request From Chris Stevens Dad Not To Politicize Benghazi: 'Very Nice'
3:27 PM, MAY 22, 2015 • BY MICHAEL WARREN
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Hillary Clinton was forwarded an article a month after the terrorist attack on Benghazi that killed U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens that quoted Stevens's father. In the October 14, 2012, Bloomberg article, Jan Stevens, the late ambassador's father, was quoted saying that it would be "abhorrent" to make his son's death a political issue in the presidential campaign.
According to the State Department's release of several emails sent to Clinton's private email address, the link to the article was forwarded on the same day to State Department employee Chris Hensman, who forwarded it to Clinton advisers Cheryl Mills and Philippe Reines. Mills forwarded that email to Clinton.
"Very nice," replied Clinton. "Can you talk?" See a sreenshot of the email below:
From: Josh Schwerin [mailto:jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:41 PM
To: Cheryl Mills
Cc: Karen Finney; Ian Sams; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
The image posted on twitter just shows the top of the email. Wondering if there's any additional context that they cropped out
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:39 PM, Cheryl Mills <cheryl.mills@gmail.com> wrote:
What do you mean?
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:38 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Can we get the rest of this email?
In response to email w/ this story "Bloomberg: Libyan Ambassador's Death Not a Political Issue, Says Dad", @HillaryClinton says "very nice"
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:23 PM, Karen Finney <kfinney@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This is from the Gowdy release - per the question from Jon Allen at Reuters do we want to respond ?
He makes 3 points, reporters picking up:
1) the emails highlight "investigative questions".
2) Emails show the Secretary had been warned about Benghazi
3) There are gaps in what the committee has. (Note that the examples he cites happened before the actual attack)
I suggest we don't respond to Gowdy and refer Allen to HRC remarks.
Thoughts?
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 2:13 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Another:
· 2:08 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was informed several times in 2011 about the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi and the dangers that diplomatic staff on the ground were facing, emails show.
Chris Stevens, then a special representative to the transitional government, considered aborting a mission in Benghazi in April 2011 because of the danger. But State Department officials warned that an abrupt departure would send a signal.
“Departure would send a significant political signal, and would be interpreted as the U.S. losing confidence in the [Libyan transitional government],” a state department staff member named Timmy Davis wrote in a note forwarded to Mrs. Clinton.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:03 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Of note from the WSJ live blog:
· 1:34 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was given in-depth operational details of a visit by Chris Stevens to Benghazi in 2011, according to an email forwarded to her on March 27, 2011. Mr. Stevens — who was then serving as special representative to Libya’s transitional government — was killed in Benghazi during the September 2012 attacks.
The former secretary of state has maintained that the real-time operational details of diplomatic security were handled below her level. But information on the logistics around a 2011 visit to Benghazi were forwarded to Mrs. Clinton, according to emails released Friday.
· 1:37 pm
· by Daniel Nasaw
·
Here’s the memo Byron just referred to.
<image001.jpg>
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:57 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Sorry for the mixup earlier when I sent an old NYT clip. Here’s their latest on the release:
1:16PM ET
By Michael S. Schmidt
State Department Releases Hillary Clinton Emails
WASHINGTON — The State Department said on Friday it was releasing 296 emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton sent and received when she was secretary of state.
The emails are the first tranche of many that will be released by the State Department over the next year. After it was revealed in March that Mrs. Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account when she was secretary of state, she asked the State Department to release all of the emails she had provided it from her time in office.
The State Department said the emails it was releasing Friday were provided to a specially appointed House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The emails were sent from January 2011 and December 2012, the State Department said.
The New York Times on Thursday obtained and published an initial batch of the emails online.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” the State Department said.
The website that the State Department uses was not working on Friday when it said it was releasing the emails.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:53 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
America Rising is already clipping and pushing her gaggle Q&A on the emails, which is weird since she did a good job.
VIDEO: @HillaryClinton Pressed On Receiving Now-Classified And Sensitive Information youtube.com/watch?v=qdiQxJ…
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
HRC took three or four q's. Sounds like it went well. Hopefully we will see soon on msnbc or cnn. Varun will transcribe.
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:45 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:They concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
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>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
> --
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Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
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Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
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Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
I think my favorite of the #HillaryClinton #Benghazi emails is this one: http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2086095-c05739545.html …
--http://www.vox.com/2015/5/22/8646231/clinton-aide-libya-benghazi
Benghazi emails reveal Clinton team thought Libya was her marquee achievement
Updated by Jonathan Allen on May 22, 2015, 3:00 p.m. ET
A top State Department official boasted of Hillary Clinton's "leadership/ownership/stewardship of this country's Libya policy from start to finish" a little more than a year before the attack that killed four Americans at a US compound in Benghazi.
That assessment, offered up in an email from Clinton Deputy Chief of Staff Jake Sullivan to fellow State Department aides Cheryl Mills and Victoria Nuland, is contained in a trove of emails the agency turned over Friday to the House committee investigating the Benghazi attack.
Written in August 2011, it shows that Clinton's aides once viewed her role in the US-backed intervention in Libya as a marquee achievement.
"HRC has been a critical voice on Libya in administration deliberations, at NATO, and in contact group meetings," Sullivan wrote. "She was instrumental in securing the authorization, building the coalition, and tightening the noose around Qadhafi and his regime."
Sullivan also recounts the key days of diplomacy in March 2011 that led to the creation of the coalition that attacked Gaddafi.
And Clinton's efforts on Capitol Hill.
Thirteen months later, the killing of four Americans in Libya, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, would make it impossible for Clinton to cast the US-backed intervention as a success or an achievement on her part.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 3:15 PM
To: Tyson Brody
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Cheryl Mills; Karen Finney; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
The more it goes in this direction, the better…
The Clinton team praises Journal's Monica Langley
·
· 1
By DYLAN BYERS |
5/22/15 2:51 PM EDT
From the newly released batch of Hillary Clinton emails, here is correspondence from Oct. 11, 2012, among senior State Department adviser Phillipe Reines, Deputy Secretary of State Tom Nides and State Department Communications Director Caroline Adler following an interview Secretary Clinton gave to The Wall Street Journal's Monica Langley:
Reines:
Tom, was an awesome interview. Hrc was great, but I was really impressed by how good of an interviewer Monica is. One of the best I've ever seen. But she was her usual wacky self and pulled one move that I can't even describe so I'll let Caroline do - since you'll appreciate it given your familiarity with Monica Langley, Hillary Clinton, and the Secretary's chair arrangement in her outer office.
Adler:
This will be exciting when it's FOIA'd ...but will give you a sense of the interaction:
HRC. Monica, have a seat
::HRC motions toward a chair situated an appropriate distance from her preferred spot on the couch::Monica: ll!!Sure!!!
::Monica proceeds to drag her chair within inches of the Secretary --leaning in even further::Interview proceeds... and about midway.
Monica: Oh Hillary...2016 '16 '16
::Monica grabs HRO's knee::HRC laughs awkwardly — glances at Philippe
Monica: ::leaning in further::
Oh Hillary...what do you eat? drink? dream about when you sleep?
::Monica again touches HRC's leg::::Everybody laughs awkwardly — Philippe hardly able to contain himself::
Monica: They think I'm so funny (looking at Philippe and me.) HILL, can I ride on your lap to the White House?
...this went for about 51 minutes And I agree with Philippe- whatever she does, it works. It was a really great interview.
Nides:
I may go and throw up since I am laughing so hard
Reines (cc'ing Sec. Clinton):
+Hrc
Tom, she moved that yellow chair as close as it went. Knee to knee. Amazed she didn't try knee in between knee. And if that wasn't enough, she leaned forward. More like a pivot, as far as her torso could fold forward to minimize the space between their heads. Was like the dental hygienist rolling around the floor to get the best access to your mouth depending on what tooth she was trying to get access to I've never seen a Westerner invade her space like that And even the non Westerners I've seen do it based on cultural differences have been only briefly to greet, This went on like that for 51 minutes - unacceptable in any culture. I don't even think you see that behavior among any type of mammal. The touching the leg and repeatedly calling her 'Hillary' was just gravy.
But it was wonderful. One of the best interviews I've ever witnessed. Wish it were on live tv.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 3:11 PM
To: Tyson Brody
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Cheryl Mills; Karen Finney; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Huma to Hillary: "I'm giving you credit for inspiring the "peaceful" protests." pic.twitter.com/DYrPSwEaHh
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:54 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Cheryl Mills; Karen Finney; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/601822415807770625
@lachlan
HRC in Hard Choices: "My thoughts immediately went to Chris" (Stevens) HRC email on 9/11/12 asks abt "Chris Smith"
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:46 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Looks to have just been response to the clip. Email chain at bottom.
Hillary on Request From Chris Stevens Dad Not To Politicize Benghazi: 'Very Nice'
3:27 PM, MAY 22, 2015 • BY MICHAEL WARREN
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Hillary Clinton was forwarded an article a month after the terrorist attack on Benghazi that killed U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens that quoted Stevens's father. In the October 14, 2012, Bloomberg article, Jan Stevens, the late ambassador's father, was quoted saying that it would be "abhorrent" to make his son's death a political issue in the presidential campaign.
According to the State Department's release of several emails sent to Clinton's private email address, the link to the article was forwarded on the same day to State Department employee Chris Hensman, who forwarded it to Clinton advisers Cheryl Mills and Philippe Reines. Mills forwarded that email to Clinton.
"Very nice," replied Clinton. "Can you talk?" See a sreenshot of the email below:
From: Josh Schwerin [mailto:jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:41 PM
To: Cheryl Mills
Cc: Karen Finney; Ian Sams; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
The image posted on twitter just shows the top of the email. Wondering if there's any additional context that they cropped out
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:39 PM, Cheryl Mills <cheryl.mills@gmail.com> wrote:
What do you mean?
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:38 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Can we get the rest of this email?
In response to email w/ this story "Bloomberg: Libyan Ambassador's Death Not a Political Issue, Says Dad", @HillaryClinton says "very nice"
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:23 PM, Karen Finney <kfinney@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This is from the Gowdy release - per the question from Jon Allen at Reuters do we want to respond ?
He makes 3 points, reporters picking up:
1) the emails highlight "investigative questions".
2) Emails show the Secretary had been warned about Benghazi
3) There are gaps in what the committee has. (Note that the examples he cites happened before the actual attack)
I suggest we don't respond to Gowdy and refer Allen to HRC remarks.
Thoughts?
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 2:13 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Another:
· 2:08 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was informed several times in 2011 about the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi and the dangers that diplomatic staff on the ground were facing, emails show.
Chris Stevens, then a special representative to the transitional government, considered aborting a mission in Benghazi in April 2011 because of the danger. But State Department officials warned that an abrupt departure would send a signal.
“Departure would send a significant political signal, and would be interpreted as the U.S. losing confidence in the [Libyan transitional government],” a state department staff member named Timmy Davis wrote in a note forwarded to Mrs. Clinton.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:03 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Of note from the WSJ live blog:
· 1:34 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was given in-depth operational details of a visit by Chris Stevens to Benghazi in 2011, according to an email forwarded to her on March 27, 2011. Mr. Stevens — who was then serving as special representative to Libya’s transitional government — was killed in Benghazi during the September 2012 attacks.
The former secretary of state has maintained that the real-time operational details of diplomatic security were handled below her level. But information on the logistics around a 2011 visit to Benghazi were forwarded to Mrs. Clinton, according to emails released Friday.
· 1:37 pm
· by Daniel Nasaw
·
Here’s the memo Byron just referred to.
<image001.jpg>
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:57 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Sorry for the mixup earlier when I sent an old NYT clip. Here’s their latest on the release:
1:16PM ET
By Michael S. Schmidt
State Department Releases Hillary Clinton Emails
WASHINGTON — The State Department said on Friday it was releasing 296 emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton sent and received when she was secretary of state.
The emails are the first tranche of many that will be released by the State Department over the next year. After it was revealed in March that Mrs. Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account when she was secretary of state, she asked the State Department to release all of the emails she had provided it from her time in office.
The State Department said the emails it was releasing Friday were provided to a specially appointed House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The emails were sent from January 2011 and December 2012, the State Department said.
The New York Times on Thursday obtained and published an initial batch of the emails online.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” the State Department said.
The website that the State Department uses was not working on Friday when it said it was releasing the emails.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:53 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
America Rising is already clipping and pushing her gaggle Q&A on the emails, which is weird since she did a good job.
VIDEO: @HillaryClinton Pressed On Receiving Now-Classified And Sensitive Information youtube.com/watch?v=qdiQxJ…
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
HRC took three or four q's. Sounds like it went well. Hopefully we will see soon on msnbc or cnn. Varun will transcribe.
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:45 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:They concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
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Hillary for America
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Kenneth P. VogelHere's Hillary, anxious to talk to the King of Morocco, whose govt-owned phosphate co would give $6M+ to @ClintonFdn. http://foia.state.gov/searchapp/DOCUMENTS/HRC_Email_1_296/HRCH2/DOC_0C05739692/C05739692.pdf … https://twitter.com/kenvogel/status/601831412770168832
I think my favorite of the #HillaryClinton #Benghazi emails is this one: http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2086095-c05739545.html …
0 retweets0 favoritesReplyRetweetFavoriteMoreOn Fri, May 22, 2015 at 3:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:--http://www.vox.com/2015/5/22/8646231/clinton-aide-libya-benghazi
Benghazi emails reveal Clinton team thought Libya was her marquee achievement
Updated by Jonathan Allen on May 22, 2015, 3:00 p.m. ET
A top State Department official boasted of Hillary Clinton's "leadership/ownership/stewardship of this country's Libya policy from start to finish" a little more than a year before the attack that killed four Americans at a US compound in Benghazi.
That assessment, offered up in an email from Clinton Deputy Chief of Staff Jake Sullivan to fellow State Department aides Cheryl Mills and Victoria Nuland, is contained in a trove of emails the agency turned over Friday to the House committee investigating the Benghazi attack.
Written in August 2011, it shows that Clinton's aides once viewed her role in the US-backed intervention in Libya as a marquee achievement.
"HRC has been a critical voice on Libya in administration deliberations, at NATO, and in contact group meetings," Sullivan wrote. "She was instrumental in securing the authorization, building the coalition, and tightening the noose around Qadhafi and his regime."
Sullivan also recounts the key days of diplomacy in March 2011 that led to the creation of the coalition that attacked Gaddafi.
And Clinton's efforts on Capitol Hill.
Thirteen months later, the killing of four Americans in Libya, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, would make it impossible for Clinton to cast the US-backed intervention as a success or an achievement on her part.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 3:15 PM
To: Tyson Brody
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Cheryl Mills; Karen Finney; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
The more it goes in this direction, the better…
The Clinton team praises Journal's Monica Langley
·
· 1
By DYLAN BYERS |
5/22/15 2:51 PM EDT
From the newly released batch of Hillary Clinton emails, here is correspondence from Oct. 11, 2012, among senior State Department adviser Phillipe Reines, Deputy Secretary of State Tom Nides and State Department Communications Director Caroline Adler following an interview Secretary Clinton gave to The Wall Street Journal's Monica Langley:
Reines:
Tom, was an awesome interview. Hrc was great, but I was really impressed by how good of an interviewer Monica is. One of the best I've ever seen. But she was her usual wacky self and pulled one move that I can't even describe so I'll let Caroline do - since you'll appreciate it given your familiarity with Monica Langley, Hillary Clinton, and the Secretary's chair arrangement in her outer office.
Adler:
This will be exciting when it's FOIA'd ...but will give you a sense of the interaction:
HRC. Monica, have a seat
::HRC motions toward a chair situated an appropriate distance from her preferred spot on the couch::Monica: ll!!Sure!!!
::Monica proceeds to drag her chair within inches of the Secretary --leaning in even further::Interview proceeds... and about midway.
Monica: Oh Hillary...2016 '16 '16
::Monica grabs HRO's knee::HRC laughs awkwardly — glances at Philippe
Monica: ::leaning in further::
Oh Hillary...what do you eat? drink? dream about when you sleep?
::Monica again touches HRC's leg::::Everybody laughs awkwardly — Philippe hardly able to contain himself::
Monica: They think I'm so funny (looking at Philippe and me.) HILL, can I ride on your lap to the White House?
...this went for about 51 minutes And I agree with Philippe- whatever she does, it works. It was a really great interview.
Nides:
I may go and throw up since I am laughing so hard
Reines (cc'ing Sec. Clinton):
+Hrc
Tom, she moved that yellow chair as close as it went. Knee to knee. Amazed she didn't try knee in between knee. And if that wasn't enough, she leaned forward. More like a pivot, as far as her torso could fold forward to minimize the space between their heads. Was like the dental hygienist rolling around the floor to get the best access to your mouth depending on what tooth she was trying to get access to I've never seen a Westerner invade her space like that And even the non Westerners I've seen do it based on cultural differences have been only briefly to greet, This went on like that for 51 minutes - unacceptable in any culture. I don't even think you see that behavior among any type of mammal. The touching the leg and repeatedly calling her 'Hillary' was just gravy.
But it was wonderful. One of the best interviews I've ever witnessed. Wish it were on live tv.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 3:11 PM
To: Tyson Brody
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Cheryl Mills; Karen Finney; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Huma to Hillary: "I'm giving you credit for inspiring the "peaceful" protests." pic.twitter.com/DYrPSwEaHh
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:54 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Cheryl Mills; Karen Finney; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/601822415807770625
@lachlan
HRC in Hard Choices: "My thoughts immediately went to Chris" (Stevens) HRC email on 9/11/12 asks abt "Chris Smith"
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:46 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Looks to have just been response to the clip. Email chain at bottom.
Hillary on Request From Chris Stevens Dad Not To Politicize Benghazi: 'Very Nice'
3:27 PM, MAY 22, 2015 • BY MICHAEL WARREN
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Hillary Clinton was forwarded an article a month after the terrorist attack on Benghazi that killed U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens that quoted Stevens's father. In the October 14, 2012, Bloomberg article, Jan Stevens, the late ambassador's father, was quoted saying that it would be "abhorrent" to make his son's death a political issue in the presidential campaign.
According to the State Department's release of several emails sent to Clinton's private email address, the link to the article was forwarded on the same day to State Department employee Chris Hensman, who forwarded it to Clinton advisers Cheryl Mills and Philippe Reines. Mills forwarded that email to Clinton.
"Very nice," replied Clinton. "Can you talk?" See a sreenshot of the email below:
From: Josh Schwerin [mailto:jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:41 PM
To: Cheryl Mills
Cc: Karen Finney; Ian Sams; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
The image posted on twitter just shows the top of the email. Wondering if there's any additional context that they cropped out
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:39 PM, Cheryl Mills <cheryl.mills@gmail.com> wrote:
What do you mean?
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:38 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Can we get the rest of this email?
In response to email w/ this story "Bloomberg: Libyan Ambassador's Death Not a Political Issue, Says Dad", @HillaryClinton says "very nice"
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:23 PM, Karen Finney <kfinney@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This is from the Gowdy release - per the question from Jon Allen at Reuters do we want to respond ?
He makes 3 points, reporters picking up:
1) the emails highlight "investigative questions".
2) Emails show the Secretary had been warned about Benghazi
3) There are gaps in what the committee has. (Note that the examples he cites happened before the actual attack)
I suggest we don't respond to Gowdy and refer Allen to HRC remarks.
Thoughts?
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 2:13 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Another:
· 2:08 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was informed several times in 2011 about the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi and the dangers that diplomatic staff on the ground were facing, emails show.
Chris Stevens, then a special representative to the transitional government, considered aborting a mission in Benghazi in April 2011 because of the danger. But State Department officials warned that an abrupt departure would send a signal.
“Departure would send a significant political signal, and would be interpreted as the U.S. losing confidence in the [Libyan transitional government],” a state department staff member named Timmy Davis wrote in a note forwarded to Mrs. Clinton.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:03 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Of note from the WSJ live blog:
· 1:34 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was given in-depth operational details of a visit by Chris Stevens to Benghazi in 2011, according to an email forwarded to her on March 27, 2011. Mr. Stevens — who was then serving as special representative to Libya’s transitional government — was killed in Benghazi during the September 2012 attacks.
The former secretary of state has maintained that the real-time operational details of diplomatic security were handled below her level. But information on the logistics around a 2011 visit to Benghazi were forwarded to Mrs. Clinton, according to emails released Friday.
· 1:37 pm
· by Daniel Nasaw
·
Here’s the memo Byron just referred to.
<image001.jpg>
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:57 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Sorry for the mixup earlier when I sent an old NYT clip. Here’s their latest on the release:
1:16PM ET
By Michael S. Schmidt
State Department Releases Hillary Clinton Emails
WASHINGTON — The State Department said on Friday it was releasing 296 emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton sent and received when she was secretary of state.
The emails are the first tranche of many that will be released by the State Department over the next year. After it was revealed in March that Mrs. Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account when she was secretary of state, she asked the State Department to release all of the emails she had provided it from her time in office.
The State Department said the emails it was releasing Friday were provided to a specially appointed House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The emails were sent from January 2011 and December 2012, the State Department said.
The New York Times on Thursday obtained and published an initial batch of the emails online.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” the State Department said.
The website that the State Department uses was not working on Friday when it said it was releasing the emails.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:53 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
America Rising is already clipping and pushing her gaggle Q&A on the emails, which is weird since she did a good job.
VIDEO: @HillaryClinton Pressed On Receiving Now-Classified And Sensitive Information youtube.com/watch?v=qdiQxJ…
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
HRC took three or four q's. Sounds like it went well. Hopefully we will see soon on msnbc or cnn. Varun will transcribe.
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:45 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:They concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
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>
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Hillary for America
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Private e-mails raise questions about Clinton’s management style
The Debrief: An occasional series offering a reporter’s insights
By Karen Tumulty May 22 at 3:36 PM Follow @ktumulty
For those who worry that Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign would be a repeat of the chaotic operation she ran eight years ago, her advisers have often pointed to her time in between at the State Department — which by comparison was an archetype of crisp managerial efficiency.
But a trove of newly released e-mails suggests that one tendency of Clinton’s persisted — an inability to separate her longtime loyalties from the business at hand.
The e-mails from her private account reveal that she passed along no fewer than 25 memos from longtime friend and loyalist Sidney Blumenthal, who had business interests in Libya, but no diplomatic expertise there.
[White House says Clinton did not heed e-mail policy]
Moreover, she did it after the White House had blocked her from hiring Blumenthal at the State Department. The president’s team considered him untrustworthy and prone to starting wild rumors.
Hers has never been a world that does not lend itself to an organizational chart. In addition to those who work for her, she maintains a vast network of political allies.
That is not a bad thing, in itself. Nor is Clinton the first public official to rely on a kitchen cabinet of advisers, defenders and loyalists.
But as her earlier presidential campaign showed, the environment that she creates is one where lines of authority and decision-making can be undermined by second-guessers and meddlers.
Her back-channel communication with Blumenthal has come to the attention of the House Select Committee on Benghazi. It has subpoenaed Blumenthal to testify in its politically charged investigation of the September 2012 attack in Libya where U.S. ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other American officials were killed.
In the memos, Blumenthal — who was identified to lower-level State Department officials only as “HRC friend” — said the information was “intel,” gathered from sources he described in breathless terms as “an extremely sensitive source” or “an extremely well-placed individual.”
In many cases, it was met with skepticism by government officials who were experts in the region.
One official who received some of the missives said “the secret source” was known to be close to the secretary, and “seemed to have some knowledge” of North Africa “but not much.”
The official described reading the Blumenthal e-mails carefully to ensure that Clinton was not “taking as fact” reports that were largely political gossip.
In addition to the memos regarding Libya, Blumenthal also sent Clinton e-mails regarding the situation in Egypt, another problem area for U.S. policy, officials said.
[Clintons and controversy: The circus is back in town.]
Asked by reporters about the e-mails, which were first reported by the New York Times, Clinton noted that she has “many, many old friends,” and added: “When you’re in the public eye, when you’re in an official position, I think you do have to work to ensure that you’re not caught in a bubble. I hear from a certain small group of people and I’m going to continue to talk to my old friends, whoever they are.”
The Clinton campaign tried to put distance between the former secretary of state and the unreliable advisories that she had passed along.
“Sid provided unsolicited thoughts and suggestions to the Secretary on a variety of topics. He was not a U.S. government employee nor asked by the Secretary to do so,” said her spokesman, Brian Fallon.
Blumenthal also played down the significance of his extensive private communication with the secretary of state.
“From time to time, as a private citizen and friend, I provided Secretary Clinton with material on a variety of topics that I thought she might find interesting or helpful,” he said in a statement issued by his lawyer’s office. “The reports I sent her came from sources I considered reliable.”
Yet Blumenthal fits a pattern of allies whom Clinton has long been drawn to — one who shares her view that she is surrounded by enemies and dark conspiracies.
“She’s not a paranoid person, I don’t think, but she wants some paranoid people around her,” said one former aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of Clinton’s distaste for those who speak to reporters when they are not authorized to do so.
Another former high-ranking staffer said that Clinton prizes “a combination of loyalty, blind devotion, willingness to stand up and fight for her — somebody who doesn’t back down from a fight on her behalf and who doesn’t flinch.”
On that score, Blumenthal had more than proven himself over the years. Indeed, one of the reasons that the White House objected to putting him at the State Department was that many there believed he had spread toxic rumors about Obama during the lengthy primary battle with Clinton in 2008.
Hillary Clinton believes in the value of such tactics, and of the people who are willing to employ them. After her husband was defeated in his bid for reelection as Arkansas governor in 1980, she went to work on a plan for him to win back the office.
One of her first moves was to recruit Dick Morris, a political consultant who worked mostly for Republicans and had a reputation for hardball tactics.
A friend recalls being surprised when she told him about hiring Morris. He asked why she had turned to someone that many in the field considered unsavory.
Morris “sees the underside of things,” Clinton told her friend, according to his recollection.
In an interview, Morris remembered it pretty much the same way. “The main reason that she liked me was that I did do a lot of negative advertising, and viewed politics as a combatant. She was the same way,” he said.
When Bill Clinton’s presidency was on the rocks after the midterm elections of 1994, the first lady played a key role in bringing Morris back again. She had made no secret of her belief that her husband’s White House advisers were too defeatist for what could be a difficult reelection fight, one aide recalled.
So surreptitious was the move that Bill Clinton’s own aides did not know of it at first; phone messages from Morris were left under the code name “Charlie.”
“The president had engaged him to run a covert operation against his own White House--a commander’s coup against the colonels. The two of them plotted in secret — at night, on the phone, by fax,” former aide George Stephanopoulos wrote in his memoir.
Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential operation was similarly dysfunctional. Veterans of that campaign recall that there were too many advisers elbowing each other on important decisions, and no one empowered to tell them no.
Her 2016 organization has been built with those mistakes in mind. Relatively few who were involved in 2008 remain; in their place is a new generation of data-driven operatives, few of whom have long or deep ties to the candidate herself.
Her new campaign chairman John Podesta was picked in part for his willingness to act as an enforcer.
“With Podesta in charge,” said a longtime Clinton friend, “it’s a new game in the sense that Podesta’s big skill is the ability to tell people to go to hell.”
In other words, they are building a different kind of Clinton campaign. The question is whether the candidate can be a different kind of Clinton.
Here's Hillary, anxious to talk to the King of Morocco, whose govt-owned phosphate co would give $6M+ to @ClintonFdn. http://foia.state.gov/searchapp/DOCUMENTS/HRC_Email_1_296/HRCH2/DOC_0C05739692/C05739692.pdf … https://twitter.com/kenvogel/status/601831412770168832
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 3:28 PM, Adrienne Elrod <aelrod@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:I think my favorite of the #HillaryClinton #Benghazi emails is this one: http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2086095-c05739545.html …
0 retweets0 favoritesReplyRetweetFavoriteMoreOn Fri, May 22, 2015 at 3:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:--http://www.vox.com/2015/5/22/8646231/clinton-aide-libya-benghazi
Benghazi emails reveal Clinton team thought Libya was her marquee achievement
Updated by Jonathan Allen on May 22, 2015, 3:00 p.m. ET
A top State Department official boasted of Hillary Clinton's "leadership/ownership/stewardship of this country's Libya policy from start to finish" a little more than a year before the attack that killed four Americans at a US compound in Benghazi.
That assessment, offered up in an email from Clinton Deputy Chief of Staff Jake Sullivan to fellow State Department aides Cheryl Mills and Victoria Nuland, is contained in a trove of emails the agency turned over Friday to the House committee investigating the Benghazi attack.
Written in August 2011, it shows that Clinton's aides once viewed her role in the US-backed intervention in Libya as a marquee achievement.
"HRC has been a critical voice on Libya in administration deliberations, at NATO, and in contact group meetings," Sullivan wrote. "She was instrumental in securing the authorization, building the coalition, and tightening the noose around Qadhafi and his regime."
Sullivan also recounts the key days of diplomacy in March 2011 that led to the creation of the coalition that attacked Gaddafi.
And Clinton's efforts on Capitol Hill.
Thirteen months later, the killing of four Americans in Libya, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, would make it impossible for Clinton to cast the US-backed intervention as a success or an achievement on her part.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 3:15 PM
To: Tyson Brody
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Cheryl Mills; Karen Finney; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
The more it goes in this direction, the better…
The Clinton team praises Journal's Monica Langley
·
· 1
By DYLAN BYERS |
5/22/15 2:51 PM EDT
>From the newly released batch of Hillary Clinton emails, here is correspondence from Oct. 11, 2012, among senior State Department adviser Phillipe Reines, Deputy Secretary of State Tom Nides and State Department Communications Director Caroline Adler following an interview Secretary Clinton gave to The Wall Street Journal's Monica Langley:
Reines:
Tom, was an awesome interview. Hrc was great, but I was really impressed by how good of an interviewer Monica is. One of the best I've ever seen. But she was her usual wacky self and pulled one move that I can't even describe so I'll let Caroline do - since you'll appreciate it given your familiarity with Monica Langley, Hillary Clinton, and the Secretary's chair arrangement in her outer office.
Adler:
This will be exciting when it's FOIA'd ...but will give you a sense of the interaction:
HRC. Monica, have a seat
::HRC motions toward a chair situated an appropriate distance from her preferred spot on the couch::Monica: ll!!Sure!!!
::Monica proceeds to drag her chair within inches of the Secretary --leaning in even further::Interview proceeds... and about midway.
Monica: Oh Hillary...2016 '16 '16
::Monica grabs HRO's knee::HRC laughs awkwardly — glances at Philippe
Monica: ::leaning in further::
Oh Hillary...what do you eat? drink? dream about when you sleep?
::Monica again touches HRC's leg::::Everybody laughs awkwardly — Philippe hardly able to contain himself::
Monica: They think I'm so funny (looking at Philippe and me.) HILL, can I ride on your lap to the White House?
...this went for about 51 minutes And I agree with Philippe- whatever she does, it works. It was a really great interview.
Nides:
I may go and throw up since I am laughing so hard
Reines (cc'ing Sec. Clinton):
+Hrc
Tom, she moved that yellow chair as close as it went. Knee to knee. Amazed she didn't try knee in between knee. And if that wasn't enough, she leaned forward. More like a pivot, as far as her torso could fold forward to minimize the space between their heads. Was like the dental hygienist rolling around the floor to get the best access to your mouth depending on what tooth she was trying to get access to I've never seen a Westerner invade her space like that And even the non Westerners I've seen do it based on cultural differences have been only briefly to greet, This went on like that for 51 minutes - unacceptable in any culture. I don't even think you see that behavior among any type of mammal. The touching the leg and repeatedly calling her 'Hillary' was just gravy.
But it was wonderful. One of the best interviews I've ever witnessed. Wish it were on live tv.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 3:11 PM
To: Tyson Brody
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Cheryl Mills; Karen Finney; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Huma to Hillary: "I'm giving you credit for inspiring the "peaceful" protests." pic.twitter.com/DYrPSwEaHh
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:54 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Cheryl Mills; Karen Finney; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/601822415807770625
@lachlan
HRC in Hard Choices: "My thoughts immediately went to Chris" (Stevens) HRC email on 9/11/12 asks abt "Chris Smith"
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:46 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Looks to have just been response to the clip. Email chain at bottom.
Hillary on Request From Chris Stevens Dad Not To Politicize Benghazi: 'Very Nice'
3:27 PM, MAY 22, 2015 • BY MICHAEL WARREN
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Hillary Clinton was forwarded an article a month after the terrorist attack on Benghazi that killed U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens that quoted Stevens's father. In the October 14, 2012, Bloomberg article, Jan Stevens, the late ambassador's father, was quoted saying that it would be "abhorrent" to make his son's death a political issue in the presidential campaign.
According to the State Department's release of several emails sent to Clinton's private email address, the link to the article was forwarded on the same day to State Department employee Chris Hensman, who forwarded it to Clinton advisers Cheryl Mills and Philippe Reines. Mills forwarded that email to Clinton.
"Very nice," replied Clinton. "Can you talk?" See a sreenshot of the email below:
From: Josh Schwerin [mailto:jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:41 PM
To: Cheryl Mills
Cc: Karen Finney; Ian Sams; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
The image posted on twitter just shows the top of the email. Wondering if there's any additional context that they cropped out
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:39 PM, Cheryl Mills <cheryl.mills@gmail.com> wrote:
What do you mean?
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:38 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Can we get the rest of this email?
In response to email w/ this story "Bloomberg: Libyan Ambassador's Death Not a Political Issue, Says Dad", @HillaryClinton says "very nice"
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:23 PM, Karen Finney <kfinney@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This is from the Gowdy release - per the question from Jon Allen at Reuters do we want to respond ?
He makes 3 points, reporters picking up:
1) the emails highlight "investigative questions".
2) Emails show the Secretary had been warned about Benghazi
3) There are gaps in what the committee has. (Note that the examples he cites happened before the actual attack)
I suggest we don't respond to Gowdy and refer Allen to HRC remarks.
Thoughts?
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 2:13 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Another:
· 2:08 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was informed several times in 2011 about the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi and the dangers that diplomatic staff on the ground were facing, emails show.
Chris Stevens, then a special representative to the transitional government, considered aborting a mission in Benghazi in April 2011 because of the danger. But State Department officials warned that an abrupt departure would send a signal.
“Departure would send a significant political signal, and would be interpreted as the U.S. losing confidence in the [Libyan transitional government],” a state department staff member named Timmy Davis wrote in a note forwarded to Mrs. Clinton.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:03 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Of note from the WSJ live blog:
· 1:34 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was given in-depth operational details of a visit by Chris Stevens to Benghazi in 2011, according to an email forwarded to her on March 27, 2011. Mr. Stevens — who was then serving as special representative to Libya’s transitional government — was killed in Benghazi during the September 2012 attacks.
The former secretary of state has maintained that the real-time operational details of diplomatic security were handled below her level. But information on the logistics around a 2011 visit to Benghazi were forwarded to Mrs. Clinton, according to emails released Friday.
· 1:37 pm
· by Daniel Nasaw
·
Here’s the memo Byron just referred to.
<image001.jpg>
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:57 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Sorry for the mixup earlier when I sent an old NYT clip. Here’s their latest on the release:
1:16PM ET
By Michael S. Schmidt
State Department Releases Hillary Clinton Emails
WASHINGTON — The State Department said on Friday it was releasing 296 emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton sent and received when she was secretary of state.
The emails are the first tranche of many that will be released by the State Department over the next year. After it was revealed in March that Mrs. Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account when she was secretary of state, she asked the State Department to release all of the emails she had provided it from her time in office.
The State Department said the emails it was releasing Friday were provided to a specially appointed House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The emails were sent from January 2011 and December 2012, the State Department said.
The New York Times on Thursday obtained and published an initial batch of the emails online.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” the State Department said.
The website that the State Department uses was not working on Friday when it said it was releasing the emails.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:53 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
America Rising is already clipping and pushing her gaggle Q&A on the emails, which is weird since she did a good job.
VIDEO: @HillaryClinton Pressed On Receiving Now-Classified And Sensitive Information youtube.com/watch?v=qdiQxJ…
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
HRC took three or four q's. Sounds like it went well. Hopefully we will see soon on msnbc or cnn. Varun will transcribe.
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:45 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:They concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
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--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
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----Josh SchwerinSpokespersonHillary for America@JoshSchwerin
https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/601822415807770625
@lachlan
HRC in Hard Choices: "My thoughts immediately went to Chris" (Stevens) HRC email on 9/11/12 asks abt "Chris Smith"On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:46 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Looks to have just been response to the clip. Email chain at bottom.
Hillary on Request From Chris Stevens Dad Not To Politicize Benghazi: 'Very Nice'
3:27 PM, MAY 22, 2015 • BY MICHAEL WARREN
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Hillary Clinton was forwarded an article a month after the terrorist attack on Benghazi that killed U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens that quoted Stevens's father. In the October 14, 2012, Bloomberg article, Jan Stevens, the late ambassador's father, was quoted saying that it would be "abhorrent" to make his son's death a political issue in the presidential campaign.
According to the State Department's release of several emails sent to Clinton's private email address, the link to the article was forwarded on the same day to State Department employee Chris Hensman, who forwarded it to Clinton advisers Cheryl Mills and Philippe Reines. Mills forwarded that email to Clinton.
"Very nice," replied Clinton. "Can you talk?" See a sreenshot of the email below:
<image003.png>
From: Josh Schwerin [mailto:jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:41 PM
To: Cheryl Mills
Cc: Karen Finney; Ian Sams; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
The image posted on twitter just shows the top of the email. Wondering if there's any additional context that they cropped out
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:39 PM, Cheryl Mills <cheryl.mills@gmail.com> wrote:
What do you mean?
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:38 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Can we get the rest of this email?
In response to email w/ this story "Bloomberg: Libyan Ambassador's Death Not a Political Issue, Says Dad", @HillaryClinton says "very nice"
<image004.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:23 PM, Karen Finney <kfinney@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This is from the Gowdy release - per the question from Jon Allen at Reuters do we want to respond ?
He makes 3 points, reporters picking up:
1) the emails highlight "investigative questions".
2) Emails show the Secretary had been warned about Benghazi
3) There are gaps in what the committee has. (Note that the examples he cites happened before the actual attack)
I suggest we don't respond to Gowdy and refer Allen to HRC remarks.
Thoughts?
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 2:13 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Another:
· 2:08 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was informed several times in 2011 about the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi and the dangers that diplomatic staff on the ground were facing, emails show.
Chris Stevens, then a special representative to the transitional government, considered aborting a mission in Benghazi in April 2011 because of the danger. But State Department officials warned that an abrupt departure would send a signal.
“Departure would send a significant political signal, and would be interpreted as the U.S. losing confidence in the [Libyan transitional government],” a state department staff member named Timmy Davis wrote in a note forwarded to Mrs. Clinton.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:03 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Of note from the WSJ live blog:
· 1:34 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was given in-depth operational details of a visit by Chris Stevens to Benghazi in 2011, according to an email forwarded to her on March 27, 2011. Mr. Stevens — who was then serving as special representative to Libya’s transitional government — was killed in Benghazi during the September 2012 attacks.
The former secretary of state has maintained that the real-time operational details of diplomatic security were handled below her level. But information on the logistics around a 2011 visit to Benghazi were forwarded to Mrs. Clinton, according to emails released Friday.
· 1:37 pm
· by Daniel Nasaw
·
Here’s the memo Byron just referred to.
<image001.jpg>
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:57 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Sorry for the mixup earlier when I sent an old NYT clip. Here’s their latest on the release:
1:16PM ET
By Michael S. Schmidt
State Department Releases Hillary Clinton Emails
WASHINGTON — The State Department said on Friday it was releasing 296 emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton sent and received when she was secretary of state.
The emails are the first tranche of many that will be released by the State Department over the next year. After it was revealed in March that Mrs. Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account when she was secretary of state, she asked the State Department to release all of the emails she had provided it from her time in office.
The State Department said the emails it was releasing Friday were provided to a specially appointed House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The emails were sent from January 2011 and December 2012, the State Department said.
The New York Times on Thursday obtained and published an initial batch of the emails online.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” the State Department said.
The website that the State Department uses was not working on Friday when it said it was releasing the emails.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:53 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
America Rising is already clipping and pushing her gaggle Q&A on the emails, which is weird since she did a good job.
VIDEO: @HillaryClinton Pressed On Receiving Now-Classified And Sensitive Information youtube.com/watch?v=qdiQxJ…
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
HRC took three or four q's. Sounds like it went well. Hopefully we will see soon on msnbc or cnn. Varun will transcribe.
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:45 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:They concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
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Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
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Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
The other casualty was Sean Smith.https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/601822415807770625
@lachlan
HRC in Hard Choices: "My thoughts immediately went to Chris" (Stevens) HRC email on 9/11/12 asks abt "Chris Smith"On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:46 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Looks to have just been response to the clip. Email chain at bottom.
Hillary on Request From Chris Stevens Dad Not To Politicize Benghazi: 'Very Nice'
3:27 PM, MAY 22, 2015 • BY MICHAEL WARREN
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Hillary Clinton was forwarded an article a month after the terrorist attack on Benghazi that killed U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens that quoted Stevens's father. In the October 14, 2012, Bloomberg article, Jan Stevens, the late ambassador's father, was quoted saying that it would be "abhorrent" to make his son's death a political issue in the presidential campaign.
According to the State Department's release of several emails sent to Clinton's private email address, the link to the article was forwarded on the same day to State Department employee Chris Hensman, who forwarded it to Clinton advisers Cheryl Mills and Philippe Reines. Mills forwarded that email to Clinton.
"Very nice," replied Clinton. "Can you talk?" See a sreenshot of the email below:
<image003.png>
From: Josh Schwerin [mailto:jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:41 PM
To: Cheryl Mills
Cc: Karen Finney; Ian Sams; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
The image posted on twitter just shows the top of the email. Wondering if there's any additional context that they cropped out
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:39 PM, Cheryl Mills <cheryl.mills@gmail.com> wrote:
What do you mean?
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:38 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Can we get the rest of this email?
In response to email w/ this story "Bloomberg: Libyan Ambassador's Death Not a Political Issue, Says Dad", @HillaryClinton says "very nice"
<image004.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:23 PM, Karen Finney <kfinney@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This is from the Gowdy release - per the question from Jon Allen at Reuters do we want to respond ?
He makes 3 points, reporters picking up:
1) the emails highlight "investigative questions".
2) Emails show the Secretary had been warned about Benghazi
3) There are gaps in what the committee has. (Note that the examples he cites happened before the actual attack)
I suggest we don't respond to Gowdy and refer Allen to HRC remarks.
Thoughts?
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 2:13 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Another:
· 2:08 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was informed several times in 2011 about the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi and the dangers that diplomatic staff on the ground were facing, emails show.
Chris Stevens, then a special representative to the transitional government, considered aborting a mission in Benghazi in April 2011 because of the danger. But State Department officials warned that an abrupt departure would send a signal.
“Departure would send a significant political signal, and would be interpreted as the U.S. losing confidence in the [Libyan transitional government],” a state department staff member named Timmy Davis wrote in a note forwarded to Mrs. Clinton.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:03 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Of note from the WSJ live blog:
· 1:34 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was given in-depth operational details of a visit by Chris Stevens to Benghazi in 2011, according to an email forwarded to her on March 27, 2011. Mr. Stevens — who was then serving as special representative to Libya’s transitional government — was killed in Benghazi during the September 2012 attacks.
The former secretary of state has maintained that the real-time operational details of diplomatic security were handled below her level. But information on the logistics around a 2011 visit to Benghazi were forwarded to Mrs. Clinton, according to emails released Friday.
· 1:37 pm
· by Daniel Nasaw
·
Here’s the memo Byron just referred to.
<image001.jpg>
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:57 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Sorry for the mixup earlier when I sent an old NYT clip. Here’s their latest on the release:
1:16PM ET
By Michael S. Schmidt
State Department Releases Hillary Clinton Emails
WASHINGTON — The State Department said on Friday it was releasing 296 emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton sent and received when she was secretary of state.
The emails are the first tranche of many that will be released by the State Department over the next year. After it was revealed in March that Mrs. Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account when she was secretary of state, she asked the State Department to release all of the emails she had provided it from her time in office.
The State Department said the emails it was releasing Friday were provided to a specially appointed House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The emails were sent from January 2011 and December 2012, the State Department said.
The New York Times on Thursday obtained and published an initial batch of the emails online.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” the State Department said.
The website that the State Department uses was not working on Friday when it said it was releasing the emails.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:53 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
America Rising is already clipping and pushing her gaggle Q&A on the emails, which is weird since she did a good job.
VIDEO: @HillaryClinton Pressed On Receiving Now-Classified And Sensitive Information youtube.com/watch?v=qdiQxJ…
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
HRC took three or four q's. Sounds like it went well. Hopefully we will see soon on msnbc or cnn. Varun will transcribe.
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:45 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:They concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
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From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
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On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
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>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
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Josh Schwerin
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Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
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Hillary for America
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Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
Clinton emails silent on deadly danger facing Americans in Benghazi
The newly-released Hillary Clinton Benghazi emails do not contain any communications relating to security from the critical last month before the September 11, 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. facility in Libya. During that period, Ambassador Christopher Stevens, who along with three other Americans would die in the attack, warned Clinton and other State Department officials of a growing danger, indeed a security emergency, in Libya. Stevens specifically noted that the possibility of an attack on Americans was growing, and, if such an attack occurred, the U.S. contingent did not have the strength to repel it. But to judge from the emails made public Friday, Clinton gave not a thought to the matter.
Go back to August 2012. On the 15th of that month, U.S. security officers in Libya held an "emergency" meeting to address the very real possibility that growing violence in the area could soon target Americans. The next day, August 16, Stevens sent a cable to Clinton concluding that the Americans in Libya could not defend U.S. facilities "in the event of a coordinated attack, due to limited manpower, security measures, weapons capabilities, host nation support, and the overall size of the compound."
It was a clear call for help, one that, judging by the newly-public emails, went entirely unheard at the highest level of the State Department. Apart from some hugger-mugger analyses of Libyan politics by Clinton's friend Sidney Blumenthal, there is nothing at all in the emails concerning Benghazi from the month before the attack.
Clinton has long maintained she never saw the August 16, 2012 cable. "That cable did not come to my attention," Clinton testified under oath before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in January 2013. "I have made it very clear that the security cables did not come to my attention or above the assistant-secretary level, where the [State Department internal investigation] placed responsibility."
Clinton explained that she was simply too busy, and there were simply too many cables, for her to see every one. "One-point-43 million cables a year come to the State Department," she told the House committee. "They're all addressed to me. They do not all come to me."
But wasn't that August 16, 2012 cable -- warning of dire consequences should the existing violence in Libya target Americans -- a pretty important communication? What struck Republicans investigating Benghazi is that, while they knew Clinton was indeed busy, other equally busy top Obama administration officials did read the cable. In an appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee, both former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey -- two busy men with pretty big jobs -- testified they knew about it.
"You were aware that Ambassador Stevens -- of his cable that said that the consulate could not withstand a coordinated attack, is that right?" Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte asked Panetta.
"Correct," said Panetta.
"General, you had said that you previously were aware of that?" Ayotte aid to Dempsey.
"Yes, I was aware of the communication back to the State Department," Dempsey answered.
Clinton, on the other hand, insists to this day that she knew nothing. And there is nothing in the newly-released emails to contradict her sworn testimony on the matter. That should not come as a surprise to anyone. After all, because Clinton kept her communications on a separate, secret system, the only emails that State Department officials possess are the ones Clinton has given them. Clinton and her lawyers, of course, chose the emails that she gave to the State Department and then destroyed all of her email communications, including backups. Could anyone possibly be surprised that nothing Clinton turned over to the State Department -- and ultimately to the public -- contradicted her testimony under oath?
The period leading up to the Benghazi attacks is the most critical time in the entire tragic episode. What did Clinton know about the danger to American officials there, and what did she do about it? That is the key question of Benghazi. What happened afterward -- the blame-the-video spin -- can be interpreted as an attempt to cover up Clinton's inaction before the attack. Yes, the spin campaign was dishonest. But the more serious offense was allowing the conditions that led to the deaths of Stevens and three other Americans. The crime is worse than the cover-up. And if Republicans thought they would receive any new information in the Clinton-edited version of the emails released Friday, they will surely be disappointed.
Defer to those who know better on Morocco but in the days after the attack HRC attended the opening plenary on the US-Morocco strategic dialogue: http://m.state.gov/md197711.htmOn Fri, May 22, 2015 at 3:42 PM, Jake Sullivan <jsullivan@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:The other casualty was Sean Smith.https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/601822415807770625
@lachlan
HRC in Hard Choices: "My thoughts immediately went to Chris" (Stevens) HRC email on 9/11/12 asks abt "Chris Smith"On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:46 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Looks to have just been response to the clip. Email chain at bottom.
Hillary on Request From Chris Stevens Dad Not To Politicize Benghazi: 'Very Nice'
3:27 PM, MAY 22, 2015 • BY MICHAEL WARREN
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Hillary Clinton was forwarded an article a month after the terrorist attack on Benghazi that killed U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens that quoted Stevens's father. In the October 14, 2012, Bloomberg article, Jan Stevens, the late ambassador's father, was quoted saying that it would be "abhorrent" to make his son's death a political issue in the presidential campaign.
According to the State Department's release of several emails sent to Clinton's private email address, the link to the article was forwarded on the same day to State Department employee Chris Hensman, who forwarded it to Clinton advisers Cheryl Mills and Philippe Reines. Mills forwarded that email to Clinton.
"Very nice," replied Clinton. "Can you talk?" See a sreenshot of the email below:
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From: Josh Schwerin [mailto:jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:41 PM
To: Cheryl Mills
Cc: Karen Finney; Ian Sams; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
The image posted on twitter just shows the top of the email. Wondering if there's any additional context that they cropped out
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:39 PM, Cheryl Mills <cheryl.mills@gmail.com> wrote:
What do you mean?
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:38 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Can we get the rest of this email?
In response to email w/ this story "Bloomberg: Libyan Ambassador's Death Not a Political Issue, Says Dad", @HillaryClinton says "very nice"
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On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:23 PM, Karen Finney <kfinney@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This is from the Gowdy release - per the question from Jon Allen at Reuters do we want to respond ?
He makes 3 points, reporters picking up:
1) the emails highlight "investigative questions".
2) Emails show the Secretary had been warned about Benghazi
3) There are gaps in what the committee has. (Note that the examples he cites happened before the actual attack)
I suggest we don't respond to Gowdy and refer Allen to HRC remarks.
Thoughts?
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 2:13 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Another:
· 2:08 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was informed several times in 2011 about the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi and the dangers that diplomatic staff on the ground were facing, emails show.
Chris Stevens, then a special representative to the transitional government, considered aborting a mission in Benghazi in April 2011 because of the danger. But State Department officials warned that an abrupt departure would send a signal.
“Departure would send a significant political signal, and would be interpreted as the U.S. losing confidence in the [Libyan transitional government],” a state department staff member named Timmy Davis wrote in a note forwarded to Mrs. Clinton.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:03 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Of note from the WSJ live blog:
· 1:34 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was given in-depth operational details of a visit by Chris Stevens to Benghazi in 2011, according to an email forwarded to her on March 27, 2011. Mr. Stevens — who was then serving as special representative to Libya’s transitional government — was killed in Benghazi during the September 2012 attacks.
The former secretary of state has maintained that the real-time operational details of diplomatic security were handled below her level. But information on the logistics around a 2011 visit to Benghazi were forwarded to Mrs. Clinton, according to emails released Friday.
· 1:37 pm
· by Daniel Nasaw
·
Here’s the memo Byron just referred to.
<image001.jpg>
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:57 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Sorry for the mixup earlier when I sent an old NYT clip. Here’s their latest on the release:
1:16PM ET
By Michael S. Schmidt
State Department Releases Hillary Clinton Emails
WASHINGTON — The State Department said on Friday it was releasing 296 emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton sent and received when she was secretary of state.
The emails are the first tranche of many that will be released by the State Department over the next year. After it was revealed in March that Mrs. Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account when she was secretary of state, she asked the State Department to release all of the emails she had provided it from her time in office.
The State Department said the emails it was releasing Friday were provided to a specially appointed House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The emails were sent from January 2011 and December 2012, the State Department said.
The New York Times on Thursday obtained and published an initial batch of the emails online.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” the State Department said.
The website that the State Department uses was not working on Friday when it said it was releasing the emails.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:53 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
America Rising is already clipping and pushing her gaggle Q&A on the emails, which is weird since she did a good job.
VIDEO: @HillaryClinton Pressed On Receiving Now-Classified And Sensitive Information youtube.com/watch?v=qdiQxJ…
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
HRC took three or four q's. Sounds like it went well. Hopefully we will see soon on msnbc or cnn. Varun will transcribe.
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:45 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:They concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
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>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
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Hillary for America
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Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
Clinton emails silent on deadly danger facing Americans in Benghazi
The newly-released Hillary Clinton Benghazi emails do not contain any communications relating to security from the critical last month before the September 11, 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. facility in Libya. During that period, Ambassador Christopher Stevens, who along with three other Americans would die in the attack, warned Clinton and other State Department officials of a growing danger, indeed a security emergency, in Libya. Stevens specifically noted that the possibility of an attack on Americans was growing, and, if such an attack occurred, the U.S. contingent did not have the strength to repel it. But to judge from the emails made public Friday, Clinton gave not a thought to the matter.
Go back to August 2012. On the 15th of that month, U.S. security officers in Libya held an "emergency" meeting to address the very real possibility that growing violence in the area could soon target Americans. The next day, August 16, Stevens sent a cable to Clinton concluding that the Americans in Libya could not defend U.S. facilities "in the event of a coordinated attack, due to limited manpower, security measures, weapons capabilities, host nation support, and the overall size of the compound."
It was a clear call for help, one that, judging by the newly-public emails, went entirely unheard at the highest level of the State Department. Apart from some hugger-mugger analyses of Libyan politics by Clinton's friend Sidney Blumenthal, there is nothing at all in the emails concerning Benghazi from the month before the attack.
Clinton has long maintained she never saw the August 16, 2012 cable. "That cable did not come to my attention," Clinton testified under oath before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in January 2013. "I have made it very clear that the security cables did not come to my attention or above the assistant-secretary level, where the [State Department internal investigation] placed responsibility."
Clinton explained that she was simply too busy, and there were simply too many cables, for her to see every one. "One-point-43 million cables a year come to the State Department," she told the House committee. "They're all addressed to me. They do not all come to me."
But wasn't that August 16, 2012 cable -- warning of dire consequences should the existing violence in Libya target Americans -- a pretty important communication? What struck Republicans investigating Benghazi is that, while they knew Clinton was indeed busy, other equally busy top Obama administration officials did read the cable. In an appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee, both former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey -- two busy men with pretty big jobs -- testified they knew about it.
"You were aware that Ambassador Stevens -- of his cable that said that the consulate could not withstand a coordinated attack, is that right?" Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte asked Panetta.
"Correct," said Panetta.
"General, you had said that you previously were aware of that?" Ayotte aid to Dempsey.
"Yes, I was aware of the communication back to the State Department," Dempsey answered.
Clinton, on the other hand, insists to this day that she knew nothing. And there is nothing in the newly-released emails to contradict her sworn testimony on the matter. That should not come as a surprise to anyone. After all, because Clinton kept her communications on a separate, secret system, the only emails that State Department officials possess are the ones Clinton has given them. Clinton and her lawyers, of course, chose the emails that she gave to the State Department and then destroyed all of her email communications, including backups. Could anyone possibly be surprised that nothing Clinton turned over to the State Department -- and ultimately to the public -- contradicted her testimony under oath?
The period leading up to the Benghazi attacks is the most critical time in the entire tragic episode. What did Clinton know about the danger to American officials there, and what did she do about it? That is the key question of Benghazi. What happened afterward -- the blame-the-video spin -- can be interpreted as an attempt to cover up Clinton's inaction before the attack. Yes, the spin campaign was dishonest. But the more serious offense was allowing the conditions that led to the deaths of Stevens and three other Americans. The crime is worse than the cover-up. And if Republicans thought they would receive any new information in the Clinton-edited version of the emails released Friday, they will surely be disappointed.
Defer to those who know better on Morocco but in the days after the attack HRC attended the opening plenary on the US-Morocco strategic dialogue: http://m.state.gov/md197711.htmOn Fri, May 22, 2015 at 3:42 PM, Jake Sullivan <jsullivan@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:The other casualty was Sean Smith.https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/601822415807770625
@lachlan
HRC in Hard Choices: "My thoughts immediately went to Chris" (Stevens) HRC email on 9/11/12 asks abt "Chris Smith"On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:46 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Looks to have just been response to the clip. Email chain at bottom.
Hillary on Request From Chris Stevens Dad Not To Politicize Benghazi: 'Very Nice'
3:27 PM, MAY 22, 2015 • BY MICHAEL WARREN
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Hillary Clinton was forwarded an article a month after the terrorist attack on Benghazi that killed U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens that quoted Stevens's father. In the October 14, 2012, Bloomberg article, Jan Stevens, the late ambassador's father, was quoted saying that it would be "abhorrent" to make his son's death a political issue in the presidential campaign.
According to the State Department's release of several emails sent to Clinton's private email address, the link to the article was forwarded on the same day to State Department employee Chris Hensman, who forwarded it to Clinton advisers Cheryl Mills and Philippe Reines. Mills forwarded that email to Clinton.
"Very nice," replied Clinton. "Can you talk?" See a sreenshot of the email below:
<image003.png>
From: Josh Schwerin [mailto:jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:41 PM
To: Cheryl Mills
Cc: Karen Finney; Ian Sams; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
The image posted on twitter just shows the top of the email. Wondering if there's any additional context that they cropped out
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:39 PM, Cheryl Mills <cheryl.mills@gmail.com> wrote:
What do you mean?
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:38 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Can we get the rest of this email?
In response to email w/ this story "Bloomberg: Libyan Ambassador's Death Not a Political Issue, Says Dad", @HillaryClinton says "very nice"
<image004.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:23 PM, Karen Finney <kfinney@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This is from the Gowdy release - per the question from Jon Allen at Reuters do we want to respond ?
He makes 3 points, reporters picking up:
1) the emails highlight "investigative questions".
2) Emails show the Secretary had been warned about Benghazi
3) There are gaps in what the committee has. (Note that the examples he cites happened before the actual attack)
I suggest we don't respond to Gowdy and refer Allen to HRC remarks.
Thoughts?
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 2:13 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Another:
· 2:08 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was informed several times in 2011 about the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi and the dangers that diplomatic staff on the ground were facing, emails show.
Chris Stevens, then a special representative to the transitional government, considered aborting a mission in Benghazi in April 2011 because of the danger. But State Department officials warned that an abrupt departure would send a signal.
“Departure would send a significant political signal, and would be interpreted as the U.S. losing confidence in the [Libyan transitional government],” a state department staff member named Timmy Davis wrote in a note forwarded to Mrs. Clinton.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:03 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Of note from the WSJ live blog:
· 1:34 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was given in-depth operational details of a visit by Chris Stevens to Benghazi in 2011, according to an email forwarded to her on March 27, 2011. Mr. Stevens — who was then serving as special representative to Libya’s transitional government — was killed in Benghazi during the September 2012 attacks.
The former secretary of state has maintained that the real-time operational details of diplomatic security were handled below her level. But information on the logistics around a 2011 visit to Benghazi were forwarded to Mrs. Clinton, according to emails released Friday.
· 1:37 pm
· by Daniel Nasaw
·
Here’s the memo Byron just referred to.
<image001.jpg>
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:57 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Sorry for the mixup earlier when I sent an old NYT clip. Here’s their latest on the release:
1:16PM ET
By Michael S. Schmidt
State Department Releases Hillary Clinton Emails
WASHINGTON — The State Department said on Friday it was releasing 296 emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton sent and received when she was secretary of state.
The emails are the first tranche of many that will be released by the State Department over the next year. After it was revealed in March that Mrs. Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account when she was secretary of state, she asked the State Department to release all of the emails she had provided it from her time in office.
The State Department said the emails it was releasing Friday were provided to a specially appointed House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The emails were sent from January 2011 and December 2012, the State Department said.
The New York Times on Thursday obtained and published an initial batch of the emails online.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” the State Department said.
The website that the State Department uses was not working on Friday when it said it was releasing the emails.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:53 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
America Rising is already clipping and pushing her gaggle Q&A on the emails, which is weird since she did a good job.
VIDEO: @HillaryClinton Pressed On Receiving Now-Classified And Sensitive Information youtube.com/watch?v=qdiQxJ…
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
HRC took three or four q's. Sounds like it went well. Hopefully we will see soon on msnbc or cnn. Varun will transcribe.
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:45 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:They concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
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>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrr+unsubscribe@hillaryclinton.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com.
>>
>>
>
> --
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--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
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Hillary for America
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Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
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--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRR" group.
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Panelists all around are saying there’s no smoking gun in this release.
Fox has a couple of different storylines on the emails: Harris Faulkner (filling in for Shepard Smith) went through and talked about specific emails with James Rosen, who cherry-picked a handful of emails to discuss; Gretchen Carlson and Ed Henry got caught up in reports that HRC sent now-classified information over her email account after her UN press conference when she said she didn’t send classified information (most reporters are noting that the information was not classified at the time, though).
On MSNBC, the only flag is that Alex Seitz-Wald brought up that NARA took only two days to analyze emails to determine whether emails were personal or professional while the State Department is taking months to look over those same emails. He did not mention the redaction process State is going through.
On CNN, correspondent Chris Frates noted positively that HRC’s personality comes out in some of these emails.
How are they covering this on TV now that it's been a few hours?http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/clinton-emails-silent-on-deadly-danger-facing-americans-in-benghazi/article/2564920Clinton emails silent on deadly danger facing Americans in Benghazi
The newly-released Hillary Clinton Benghazi emails do not contain any communications relating to security from the critical last month before the September 11, 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. facility in Libya. During that period, Ambassador Christopher Stevens, who along with three other Americans would die in the attack, warned Clinton and other State Department officials of a growing danger, indeed a security emergency, in Libya. Stevens specifically noted that the possibility of an attack on Americans was growing, and, if such an attack occurred, the U.S. contingent did not have the strength to repel it. But to judge from the emails made public Friday, Clinton gave not a thought to the matter.
Go back to August 2012. On the 15th of that month, U.S. security officers in Libya held an "emergency" meeting to address the very real possibility that growing violence in the area could soon target Americans. The next day, August 16, Stevens sent a cable to Clinton concluding that the Americans in Libya could not defend U.S. facilities "in the event of a coordinated attack, due to limited manpower, security measures, weapons capabilities, host nation support, and the overall size of the compound."
It was a clear call for help, one that, judging by the newly-public emails, went entirely unheard at the highest level of the State Department. Apart from some hugger-mugger analyses of Libyan politics by Clinton's friend Sidney Blumenthal, there is nothing at all in the emails concerning Benghazi from the month before the attack.
Clinton has long maintained she never saw the August 16, 2012 cable. "That cable did not come to my attention," Clinton testified under oath before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in January 2013. "I have made it very clear that the security cables did not come to my attention or above the assistant-secretary level, where the [State Department internal investigation] placed responsibility."
Clinton explained that she was simply too busy, and there were simply too many cables, for her to see every one. "One-point-43 million cables a year come to the State Department," she told the House committee. "They're all addressed to me. They do not all come to me."
But wasn't that August 16, 2012 cable -- warning of dire consequences should the existing violence in Libya target Americans -- a pretty important communication? What struck Republicans investigating Benghazi is that, while they knew Clinton was indeed busy, other equally busy top Obama administration officials did read the cable. In an appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee, both former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey -- two busy men with pretty big jobs -- testified they knew about it.
"You were aware that Ambassador Stevens -- of his cable that said that the consulate could not withstand a coordinated attack, is that right?" Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte asked Panetta.
"Correct," said Panetta.
"General, you had said that you previously were aware of that?" Ayotte aid to Dempsey.
"Yes, I was aware of the communication back to the State Department," Dempsey answered.
Clinton, on the other hand, insists to this day that she knew nothing. And there is nothing in the newly-released emails to contradict her sworn testimony on the matter. That should not come as a surprise to anyone. After all, because Clinton kept her communications on a separate, secret system, the only emails that State Department officials possess are the ones Clinton has given them. Clinton and her lawyers, of course, chose the emails that she gave to the State Department and then destroyed all of her email communications, including backups. Could anyone possibly be surprised that nothing Clinton turned over to the State Department -- and ultimately to the public -- contradicted her testimony under oath?
The period leading up to the Benghazi attacks is the most critical time in the entire tragic episode. What did Clinton know about the danger to American officials there, and what did she do about it? That is the key question of Benghazi. What happened afterward -- the blame-the-video spin -- can be interpreted as an attempt to cover up Clinton's inaction before the attack. Yes, the spin campaign was dishonest. But the more serious offense was allowing the conditions that led to the deaths of Stevens and three other Americans. The crime is worse than the cover-up. And if Republicans thought they would receive any new information in the Clinton-edited version of the emails released Friday, they will surely be disappointed.
--On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 3:45 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Defer to those who know better on Morocco but in the days after the attack HRC attended the opening plenary on the US-Morocco strategic dialogue: http://m.state.gov/md197711.htmOn Fri, May 22, 2015 at 3:42 PM, Jake Sullivan <jsullivan@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:The other casualty was Sean Smith.https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/601822415807770625
@lachlan
HRC in Hard Choices: "My thoughts immediately went to Chris" (Stevens) HRC email on 9/11/12 asks abt "Chris Smith"On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:46 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Looks to have just been response to the clip. Email chain at bottom.
Hillary on Request From Chris Stevens Dad Not To Politicize Benghazi: 'Very Nice'
3:27 PM, MAY 22, 2015 • BY MICHAEL WARREN
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Hillary Clinton was forwarded an article a month after the terrorist attack on Benghazi that killed U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens that quoted Stevens's father. In the October 14, 2012, Bloomberg article, Jan Stevens, the late ambassador's father, was quoted saying that it would be "abhorrent" to make his son's death a political issue in the presidential campaign.
According to the State Department's release of several emails sent to Clinton's private email address, the link to the article was forwarded on the same day to State Department employee Chris Hensman, who forwarded it to Clinton advisers Cheryl Mills and Philippe Reines. Mills forwarded that email to Clinton.
"Very nice," replied Clinton. "Can you talk?" See a sreenshot of the email below:
<image003.png>
From: Josh Schwerin [mailto:jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:41 PM
To: Cheryl Mills
Cc: Karen Finney; Ian Sams; Jennifer Palmieri; Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
The image posted on twitter just shows the top of the email. Wondering if there's any additional context that they cropped out
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:39 PM, Cheryl Mills <cheryl.mills@gmail.com> wrote:
What do you mean?
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:38 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Can we get the rest of this email?
In response to email w/ this story "Bloomberg: Libyan Ambassador's Death Not a Political Issue, Says Dad", @HillaryClinton says "very nice"
<image004.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 2:23 PM, Karen Finney <kfinney@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This is from the Gowdy release - per the question from Jon Allen at Reuters do we want to respond ?
He makes 3 points, reporters picking up:
1) the emails highlight "investigative questions".
2) Emails show the Secretary had been warned about Benghazi
3) There are gaps in what the committee has. (Note that the examples he cites happened before the actual attack)
I suggest we don't respond to Gowdy and refer Allen to HRC remarks.
Thoughts?
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 2:13 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Another:
· 2:08 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was informed several times in 2011 about the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi and the dangers that diplomatic staff on the ground were facing, emails show.
Chris Stevens, then a special representative to the transitional government, considered aborting a mission in Benghazi in April 2011 because of the danger. But State Department officials warned that an abrupt departure would send a signal.
“Departure would send a significant political signal, and would be interpreted as the U.S. losing confidence in the [Libyan transitional government],” a state department staff member named Timmy Davis wrote in a note forwarded to Mrs. Clinton.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:03 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Of note from the WSJ live blog:
· 1:34 pm
· by Byron Tau
Mrs. Clinton was given in-depth operational details of a visit by Chris Stevens to Benghazi in 2011, according to an email forwarded to her on March 27, 2011. Mr. Stevens — who was then serving as special representative to Libya’s transitional government — was killed in Benghazi during the September 2012 attacks.
The former secretary of state has maintained that the real-time operational details of diplomatic security were handled below her level. But information on the logistics around a 2011 visit to Benghazi were forwarded to Mrs. Clinton, according to emails released Friday.
· 1:37 pm
· by Daniel Nasaw
·
Here’s the memo Byron just referred to.
<image001.jpg>
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:57 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Sorry for the mixup earlier when I sent an old NYT clip. Here’s their latest on the release:
1:16PM ET
By Michael S. Schmidt
State Department Releases Hillary Clinton Emails
WASHINGTON — The State Department said on Friday it was releasing 296 emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton sent and received when she was secretary of state.
The emails are the first tranche of many that will be released by the State Department over the next year. After it was revealed in March that Mrs. Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account when she was secretary of state, she asked the State Department to release all of the emails she had provided it from her time in office.
The State Department said the emails it was releasing Friday were provided to a specially appointed House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The emails were sent from January 2011 and December 2012, the State Department said.
The New York Times on Thursday obtained and published an initial batch of the emails online.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” the State Department said.
The website that the State Department uses was not working on Friday when it said it was releasing the emails.
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:53 PM
To: Jennifer Palmieri
Cc: Brian Fallon; Tyson Brody; Josh Schwerin; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
America Rising is already clipping and pushing her gaggle Q&A on the emails, which is weird since she did a good job.
VIDEO: @HillaryClinton Pressed On Receiving Now-Classified And Sensitive Information youtube.com/watch?v=qdiQxJ…
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
HRC took three or four q's. Sounds like it went well. Hopefully we will see soon on msnbc or cnn. Varun will transcribe.
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:45 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:They concede the pt and will fix
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Brian - I think we should push back. It is not "document" not "documents."
Sent from my iPhone
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:Should someone push back on politico with regards to "now classified documents?" It's 23 words out of one single email.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
First batch of Hillary's State Department emails released
By LAUREN FRENCH, JOSH GERSTEIN and BRYAN BENDER
5/22/15 12:13 PM EDT
The first batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s four years running the State Department was released Friday.
Even before the emails were made public, the State Department argued that the nearly 900 pages of documents do not fundamentally alter the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that probed the Benghazi terrorist attacks.
“The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” wrote the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
These highly anticipated emails, some of which have already leaked out, give insight into Clinton’s tenure as the top U.S. diplomat. They’re also serving as fodder for critics of the Democratic presidential front-runner, who is still dogged by questions about a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
And they are sure to raise more questions about the administration’s and Clinton’s response to what quickly became a political scandal. There is an email dated Sept. 15 with Clinton providing “talking points” for an upcoming closed-door hearing before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, but with the exception of Jake Sullivan the recipients are blacked out, along with the entire document.
It states only: “Per the discussion at Deputies, here are the revised TPs for HPSCI.”
The emails also show that Clinton received now-classified documents on her personal email address. One of the documents State recently deemed classified was a November 2012 email reporting possible arrests in Libya related to the Benghazi attack. The memo was sent through unclassified State Department channels and forwarded to Clinton’s private account by Sullivan, State’s Director of Policy Planning. A notation on the document released says it was classified as –“SECRET”—the middle tier of national security classification—on Friday, the same day the records were released.
Clinton has been under intense pressure for weeks since it was revealed that she used a non-official email address while at the State Department and stored those emails on a personal server in her New York home. Republicans jumped on those revelations to accuse Clinton of attempting to runaround federal records laws and keep key documents about Libya and Benghazi from the public.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has subpoenaed the State Department for all documents on Libya from Clinton’s time at the State Department and is refusing to schedule the former secretary to testify until the Obama administration turns the emails over to congressional investigators.
Gowdy said in a statement Friday that the committee will continue to seek all documents from Clinton’s tenure at the State Department on Libya and Benghazi and not the “self-selected” emails the former secretary made available.
“To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility,” Gowdy said.
The Benghazi Committee has had access to this first batch of email, which represents less than 2 percent of the 55,000 emails Clinton returned to State, for months. Leaked portions of the emails contain extensive communications between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime family ally. Blumenthal would often send Clinton memos on the security in Libya before the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
Blumenthal’s analyses of Libya was often met with skepticism from senior State Department officials, including Clinton. Gowdy asked the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Blumenthal with a subpoena on Tuesday.
The emails also give a personal look at Clinton’s habits and relationships.
A Oct. 7, 2012 email from Blumenthal invited Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to a dinner.
“Postelection, we’d like to have you over for dinner. Bill can come, too, if he’s in town. Whatever works,” Blumenthal wrote.
The rest of the 55,000 emails will be released to the public in stages. State proposed releasing those records next January, but a judge rejected that plan and ordered the agency to come up with a rolling schedule, which has yet to be finalized.
The documents released Friday are from January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012, “and relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi and to the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including in Benghazi,” Harf said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said in a statement that the committee should now schedule Clinton to testify.
“Instead of the selective leaking that has happened so far, the American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-emails-release-118214.html#ixzz3atDON74L
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
This strikes me as a selective placement from someone with access to the emails, maybe Benghazi committee staff since Alex has strong House GOP relationships. Hard to imagine Alex found this tidbit in an email and wrote this piece exclusively after the emails published 45 minutes ago.
He also gets the email address wrong.
Hillary Discussed Speculation About Her Health With Aides In Emails
1:15 PM 05/22/2015
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with aides the chatter on cable news about whether she actually suffered a concussion in 2012, according to emails released by the State Department on Friday.
A week before she was to testify before Congress in December 2012 about the attacks in Benghazi, Clinton postponed her appearance with aides explaining she had fainted and suffered a concussion.
On Dec. 20, chief of staff Cheryl Mills forwarded Clinton by email a transcript of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren discussing Clinton’s health with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
“Senator,” Van Susteren said during that segment, “there is a report from the State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on Benghazi before the middle of January. There has been some criticism of whether or not she has a concussion. I believe she has a concussion. What do you think?”
McCain replied: “I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January.”
Mills sent a transcript of that interview to Clinton’s personal email — hrod@clintonemail.com — and to close aide Huma Abdein.
Speaking of McCain, Clinton replied: “Huma called him and [South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham.”
“Also,” Clinton added, “someone should call Greta VS to thank her for ‘knowing the truth.’”
The emails released Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, are a few of the thousands the Democratic presidential candidate has turned over to the State Department from her personal email account. Clinton acknowledges she used that email account for both personal and official business.
<image001.png>
From: Tyson Brody [mailto:tbrody@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Ian Sams
Cc: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
Attached are the redacted and unredacted versions of the email as a side by a side.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Want to flag that if you look at the email in this link, HRC's email is redacted. But in yesrterday's new york times dump, the same email is unredacted. Could it be because Committee leaked?
See it unredacted from the times below:
<image003.png>
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Ian Sams <isams@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
Email with Hillary's revised Benghazi talking points is completely redacted pic.twitter.com/A3uGN0erHW
From: Ian Sams [mailto:isams@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:05 PM
To: Josh Schwerin; Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: RE: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 22, 2015
Contact:
Jamal D. Ware
Amanda Duvall
Statement on the Release of Secretary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails
Washington, DC— Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., today issued the following statement after the State Department released 300 self-selected emails from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, over which the department had no control and no custody for nearly two years. These emails were turned over to the State by former Secretary Clinton in the fall of 2014 in reaction to a request from the Select Committee:
“More than six months after the Select Committee first discovered Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, and after the media discovered Secretary Clinton relied exclusively on a personal server housing a personal email account eschewing any official email address, State Department transferred 300 messages exclusively reviewed and released by her own lawyers,” Gowdy said. “These lawyers, it must be noted, owed and continue to owe a fiduciary responsibility to Secretary Clinton to protect her interests. To assume a self-selected public record is complete, when no one with a duty or responsibility to the public had the ability to take part in the selection, requires a leap in logic no impartial reviewer should be required to make and strains credibility."
“It is also important to remember these email messages are just one piece of information that cannot be completely evaluated or fully understood without the total record. The Committee is working to collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary to evaluate the full range of issues in context. We will not reach any investigative conclusions until our work is complete, but these emails continue to reinforce the fact that unresolved questions and issues remain as it relates to Benghazi.”
“The Select Committee continues to believe the American people have a right to the full and complete record of her official emails and, therefore, asked Secretary Clinton to turn her server and the full body of emails over to a neutral, detached, independent third party for review. This is also why the State Department must comply with a months-old subpoena for emails of the former Secretary’s top aides, whose emails have never been received or reviewed by any congressional committee."
“The Committee’s interest is in building a complete record from which the final, definitive accounting regarding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi can be provided. The best way to answer all questions related to the attacks in Benghazi continues to be having access to the full public record, not a "record" controlled, possessed and screened exclusively by Secretary Clinton's personal lawyers.”
###
Background Information on Released Emails:
Among the emails the Select Committee finds highlight the existence of significant investigative questions:
· September 24, 2012—“Compiled protest and Benghazi Statements.” A document that reinforces issues relating to characterization of the motives for the attacks. For example, Jake Sullivan noted, “You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method. The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis.”
· August 24, 2012 — “H: Intel on new Libya president. Sid.” In this document two and a half weeks before the attacks, Jake Sullivan writes to the Secretary, “Some warning signs,” in response to the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, which forced the Red Cross to suspend activities, and reinforces questions about what was done in response to these warnings.
· April 4, 2012—“Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya.” This document characterizes Secretary Clinton’s ownership of U.S. policy in Libya.
· April 8, 2011—“UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. Sid” In this document, Secretary Clinton responded to a Blumenthal memo with, “Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.”
There are several instances of State personnel notifying the Secretary about security concerns and issues:
· April 10, 2011 – Forwarded email about deteriorating security
· April 22, 2011 – Request for continuous coverage in Benghazi, “security permitting”
· April 24, 2011 – Forwarded email about hotels being targeted
· June 10, 2011 – Email including information about credible threat info against hotel and that personnel are evacuating to alternate locations
· August 21, 2011 – Email regarding concerns about Islamist militias
· January 9, 2012 – Email stating that disarming and reintegrating of militias isn’t going as well as they had hoped
· February 24, 2012 – Email stating that militia rivalries are dangerous
· August 24, 2012 – Email stating that there are “some warning signs”
The Committee also has an interest in understanding the inexplicable gaps in the Secretary’s emails during key times of her involvement in Libyan policy, including:
June 10-August 8, 2011—Time period where Secretary Clinton was heavily involved in Libya policy
September 14-October 21 2011—Dates of Secretary Clinton’s trip to Libya, when the now-famous picture of Clinton on her blackberry was taken
October 21, 2011-January 5, 2012—Time period when the State Department was extending the Benghazi mission for another year
April 27- July 4 2012—Time period of increased security during which an IED was thrown at the compound blasting a hole through the wall and during which the British ambassador was attacked
From: hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com [mailto:hrcrr@hillaryclinton.com] On Behalf Of Josh Schwerin
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 1:03 PM
To: Brian Fallon
Cc: Tyson Brody; Christina Reynolds; HRCRR; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Robby Mook; Huma Abedin; Cheryl Mills; Jake Sullivan
Subject: Re: CLIPS ON EMAIL RELEASE
First Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails on Libya Made Public
BY CARRIE DANNhttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton/first-batch-hillary-clintons-emails-libya-made-public-n362506
A batch of Hillary Clinton's personal emails made public on Thursday morning offers a glimpse into her team's initial exchange of information in the wake of the Benghazi attacks as well as her relationship with longtime confidante Sidney Blumenthal, who sent her at least two dozen memos regarding Libya during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The State Department plans to release about 850 pages of the emails, which had been handed over to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi attacks. But on Thursday, the New York Times released about a third of that batch of correspondence, which Clinton exchanged using a private server rather than a government email account.
The documents show that, while Clinton used her personal email account to receive information the government calls "sensitive," she did not appear to use her private server to exchange classified information.
The "sensitive" information included details like the location of State Department officials in Libya during a time of instability in the country in 2011.
The documents released by the New York Times also show that Clinton received numerous briefing memos about Libya from Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clintons who was not employed by the State Department. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Blumenthal was also involved with a possible business venture in the country at the time.
Two of those memos from Blumenthal came in the days immediately following the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
In one, sent on September 12, Blumenthal suggested that top security officers in the country believed that the attacks "were inspired by what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America." Clinton forwarded that information to top adviser Jake Sullivan with the message "more info."
But another memo sent the following day indicated that the attacks may have actually been carried out by a militia group. Blumenthal wrote that officials in the country "believe that the attackers having prepared to launch their assault took advantage of the cover provided by the demonstrations in Benghazi protesting an internet production seen as disrespectful to the prophet Mohammed."
The release of the emails comes after a prolonged political fight for Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Clinton urged the State Department to expedite the vetting of the emails after initial reports suggested that the data trove would not be ready for public release until January of next year
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Brian Fallon <bfallon@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
State did a nice job with this, despite the initial, sensationalized tweet by AP
On Friday, May 22, 2015, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:State Dept. releases Hillary Clinton e-mails in Benghazi probe
AP MAY 22, 2015http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/22/state-dept-set-release-hillary-clinton-mails-benghazi-probe/E48MdmnEHKruEi5sTKzOwM/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that was classified Friday at the FBI’s request.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.
The information was not classified at the time the email was sent and was upgraded from unclassified to ‘‘secret’’ on Friday, according to State Department officials. The officials said 23 words of the November 2012 message were redacted from the release of 896 emails totaling 296 pages, to protect information that may damage foreign relations.
They said no other redactions were made for classification reasons.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf says publication includes 296 e-mails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
She says redactions were made according to Freedom of Information Act standards. The emails will be released via the State Department’s FOIA website, foia.state.gov.
The documents cover e-mails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a US diplomatic presence in Libya.
Harf says the e-mails don’t provide new facts about how four Americans were killed on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department also said on Twitter that the emails don’t provide a change in its understanding of the events.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of e-mails from Clinton’s private email account. They’ll be published on a rolling basis.
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:42 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>
> User Actions
> Following> Matt Lee@APDiploWriter
>
> Matt Lee retweeted Brian Fallon
>
> Classified this morning - as the story makes clear.
>
> Matt Lee added,
>
> Brian Fallon @brianefallon
> Classified only in recent days MT @KThomasDC: Clinton received now-classified Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) — Clinton received now-classified #Benghazi info on private email server, documents show.
>>
>> On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:35 PM, Christina Reynolds <creynolds@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Please use this email chain to send around clips that are breaking on the email release. Thanks!
>>>
>>> --
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>>
>
> --
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--
Josh Schwerin
Spokesperson
Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin--
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Josh Schwerin
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Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
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Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
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Hillary for America
@JoshSchwerin
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Subject: Ranking Member Smith Responds to Clinton Email Release
For Immediate Release:
Friday, May 22, 2015
Contact: Michael Amato: (202) 225-6902
Ranking Member Smith Responds to Clinton Email Release
Washington D.C. – House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith, who is a member of the Benghazi Select Committee, released the following statement in response to the release of Secretary Clinton’s e-mails:
I am pleased to see that the State Department finally decided to release all of Secretary Clinton’s e-mails. The American people can see for themselves that the wild claims made by Republican conspiracy theorists are completely false. Chairman Gowdy should now schedule Secretary Clinton’s public testimony and put an end to this taxpayer funded witch hunt.
After spending nearly $3 million and hosting three hearings, the only accomplishment this committee can tout is that is has out lasted the investigations into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the attacks on Pearl Harbor, and Iran-Contra. By January 2016, it will have lasted longer than the 9/11 Commission. This leaves us with only two feasible conclusions: either this committee is blatantly political or wholly incompetent. Either way, it’s time to bring this to an end.
The American people have all the information they need and we should continue to focus on preventing another attack, not scoring political points based on what we all agree was a tragedy.
Michael J. Amato
Professional Staff Member
House Armed Services Committee
Office: 202.226.8454 | Cell: 202.225.6902
2340 Rayburn House Office Building
Twitter: @hascdemocrats; @mjjamato
Facebook: House Armed Services Democrats
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/05/22/sorry-gop-there-s-no-smoking-gun-in-hillary-clinton-s-benghazi-emails.htmlSorry, GOP. There’s No Smoking Gun In Hillary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails.
Conspiracy-minded conservatives, be warned: The trove of Clinton emails don’t prove much about her culpability for the infamous 9/11 anniversary attacks.If Republicans were looking for a silver bullet to use against Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, the State Department’s Friday document dump about Benghazi wasn’t it.
There’s no illicit weapons Libyan program to be found in the emails, as some have speculated. No ‘stand-down’ order. Just a hectic flow of information to and from Hillary Clinton—about danger, about death, and ultimately, about condolences.
The State Department released Friday 296 emails involving Hillary Clinton during her tenure as Secretary of State, from 2009 to 2013. The documents include some 300 emails related to Benghazi, which were turned over to the Congressional committee investigating the 2012 attacks. The attacks left four Americans dead, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya.
The hundreds of emails released by the agency show a Secretary of State who was deeply engaged on Libyan issues—but usually just in a crisis. While Clinton was a key proponent of intervening in Libya to protect civilians under threat from then-Libyan leader Moammar Qadhafi, her emails show that she took a largely hands off approach towards the country.
Of course, this document trove is an incomplete view, at best. It excludes any phone calls, briefings or memos. It doesn’t include the emails that were deleted by Clinton—and we know there were many. (Republicans noted “inexplicable gaps” in Secretary Clinton’s emails over several time periods, such as from Oct. 2011 to Jan. 2012, and from April 2012 to July 2012. ) And it was released by a State Department that was formerly helmed by Clinton and is still part of a Democratic administration.
But according to her Benghazi-related email traffic, Clinton appears to be only been involved at times of crisis and even then deferred to those on the ground, including Stevens and friends outside government.
Clinton’s emails show that the late Amb. Christopher Stevens had multiple brushes with danger in Benghazi in 2011—more than a year before the September 2012 attacks that would ultimately take his life.
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received an update about Stevens’ 2011 security situation: that there had been intelligence indicating a credible threat to his safety, and that officials were moving swiftly out of the hotel he was staying at in Benghazi.
“There is credible threat info against the hotel that our team is using—and the rest of the Intl community is using, for that matter… DS [Diplomatic Security] going to evacuate our people to alt locations. Info suggested attack in next 24-48 hours,” wrote top Clinton aide Jacob Sullivan in an email to Clinton on June 10, 2011, with the subject line, ‘Hotel in Benghazi.’
At the time Stevens was a special envoy to Libya, and the U.S. had joined a U.N. campaign to set up a no-fly zone to assist rebels in the overthrow of Muammar Qadhafi.
In a separate incident, in April 2011, a State Department official wrote:
“The situation in Ajdabiyah has worsened to the point Stevens is considering departure from Benghazi. The envoy’s delegation is currently doing a phased checkout (paying the hotel bills, moving some comms to the boat, etc). He will monitor the situation to see if it deteriorates further, but no decision has been made on departure.”
The communications received by the Secretary of State illustrate the fast pace of security decisions made on the ground—but don’t show Clinton with a direct role in these decisions. For example, there’s no indication that Clinton intervened in the decision-making process when told about Stevens’ 2011 security scares.
Clinton was heavily criticized when it emerged in March that she had used a private email server to conduct business while she was Secretary of State. Her private email accounts prevented the normal process of archiving official government records. Clinton’s staff had turned over some 55,000 pages of email correspondence to the State Department in December 2014.
Democrats on the Select Benghazi Committee had urged the release of Benghazi-related emails for months. Clinton herself had urged the State Department to swiftly publish the emails, telling reporters earlier this week that she wanted them in the public domain as soon as possible.
“I am pleased that the State Department released the complete set of Secretary Clinton’s emails about Benghazi—as Democrats requested months ago,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the committee.
The American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years.
In the time between the June 2011 security scare and the September 2012 terrorist attacks, the mood in Libya ebbed and flowed—Stevens left Libya in November 2011 before returning as U.S. ambassador in May 2012.
In July, Libya held national elections which went off well, leading to people heralding the country worldwide. Meanwhile, Islamist flags had emerged on buildings throughout Benghazi.
The correspondence in summer 2012 shows a somewhat positive situation in Libya: the last email from Stevens that Clinton receives paints a rosy picture: in July 2012 Sen. John McCain is in Tripoli, Libya, being lauded for his support of the rebels.
“The atmosphere in Tripoli is very festive,” Stevens wrote in one email on July 7, 2012. “The gov’t declared today a holiday and people are driving around honking and waving flags and making peace sign gestures… McCain was applauded and thanked for his support wherever we went.”
The world’s focus doesn’t dwell on Libya, and Clinton doesn’t receive additional emails about Benghazi again until the 2012 attacks on U.S. facilities.
By September 2012, the situation in Libya had deteriorated. In a diary entry on Sept. 6, Stevens wrote about a “security vacuum” and “dicey conditions,” even suggesting that he was on an “Islamist ‘hit list’ in Benghazi.”
On the fateful day of Sept. 11, 2012, at approximately 4 p.m. in Washington, D.C., the first attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound occurred. Clinton had previously testified (PDF) that she was at the State Department that day, which could explain why she did not send or receive a large volume of emails about Benghazi.
She becomes more active on emails that evening, and at 11:37 p.m., she receives word through her Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills that the Libyan government had confirmed Amb. Steven’s death.
“Cheryl told me the Libyans confirmed his death. Should we announce tonight or wait until morning?” Clinton wrote in an email to top aides.
“The situation has worsened to the point Stevens is considering departure from Benghazi. The envoy's delegation is currently doing a phased checkout.”Throughout the morning after the initial attacks she has a lot of activity: in particular she received a large number of messages expressing condolences to her and the State Department over the death of the ambassador.
“The Ambassador was a perfect role model of the kind of person we need representing us around the world, and the others had so much to give—and already had given so much,” said former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates.
“What a wonderful, strong and moving statement by your boss. please tell her how much Sen. McCain appreciated it. Me too,” wrote a top national security aide for Sen. John McCain.
That weekend, Clinton continued to exchange emails on the Benghazi issue. On Saturday Sept. 15, the day before Susan Rice appeared on cable shows to make the since-rescinded claim that the Benghazi attacks were the result of protests-turned-violent, Clinton was involved arranging calls from her home and the collection of an action memo via classified courier.
The emails give insight into how Clinton operated at the time: using classified couriers to move memos and getting on the phone with other world leaders, rather than using email.
None of the released emails show Clinton being involved with Rice’s appearance on the Sunday shows, or the discussion of what Rice should say. She does, however, receive a transcript of what Rice would eventually say.
Findings of the Republican-led Select committee on Benghazi may not be releaseduntil sometime in 2016, in the thick of campaign season.
If the Select Committee continues to operate through the end of the 2015, its estimated cost will rise to $6 million dollars. The House Select Committee on Benghazi was established in May 2014. If it continues through to the end of 2015, it will have been investigating for 19 months—longer than other major, comparable investigations.
(To compare, the joint inquiry into the intelligence community’s actions with regard to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks took less than a year. The Senate Watergate committee operated for about 17 months before presenting its findings. And the Warren Commission on the assassination of President Kennedy operated for under a year.)
The release of Friday’s Benghazi-related emails has itself been months in the waiting: the State Department had been going through an excruciating process of assessing the emails for any information that would show sensitive or personally identifiable information, and then removing it. The State Department will now turn its attention to performing the same task on thousands of Clinton emails that are not related to Benghazi.
In fact, Hillary Clinton’s email correspondence has the potential to generate headlines at least through the end of the year, acting as a disruptive force that distracts from her presidential campaign.
For Republican committee chairman Trey Gowdy, the release of these emails are just the first step in a long slog to “collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary.” Gowdy said that the emails released Friday had all been exclusively reviewed and released only after review by her own lawyers.
Earlier this week, a federal judge had dismissed a State Department plan to release her email archives, comprised of some 55,000 pages of emails, by January 2016. Instead, the judge asked the State Department to come up with a plan to gradually release the emails in stages.
In the nearer term, Hillary Clinton is expected to appear before the Select Committee on Benghazi, Gowdy said last week that he will not schedule the former Secretary of State’s testimony until the State Department turns over more documents.
“The Select Committee should schedule Secretary Clinton’s public testimony now and stop wasting taxpayer money dragging out this political charade to harm Secretary Clinton’s bid for president,” Cummings, a Democrat, said Friday.
The New York Times obtained and published about a third of the Clinton Benghazi emails earlier this week, revealing that longtime Clinton friend Sidney Blumenthal had frequently written to her about Libya, serving as a source of information about the country before and after the 2012 attacks.
While Blumenthal had originally blamed demonstrators in the American diplomatic facility in Benghazi, a subsequent memo fingered a Libyan terrorist group for the attacks, arguing that they had used the demonstrations as cover for the violence. This week, the Select Committee on Benghazi subpoenaed Blumenthal to appear before the panel.
--On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 4:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:How Bad Spin Works: A Handy Lesson from the Clinton/Blumenthal E-Mails
May 22, 2015 3:46 PM EDT
The sort of intra-Washington chicanery that is not scandalous, but not often revealed.
The just-released batch of emails from Hillary Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State is full of sausage-making. It's the sort of intra-Washington chicanery that is not scandalous, but not often revealed, because human beings are capable of embarrassment. One of the more excruciating exchanges comes when Sidney Blumenthal, the journalist turned Clinton confidant, offered up pro bono spin work during the weeks before the 2012 election when Republicans started to ask why the attack on America's consulate in Benghazi had not been stopped.
On the morning of October 1, journalist Craig Unger—best known for the 2004 cui bono bestseller House of Bush, House of Saud—published a column in Salon that revealed a "Jimmy Carter strategy" being formulated by Mitt Romney's presidential campaign.
"According to a highly reliable source," wrote Unger, "as Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama prepare for the first presidential debate Wednesday night, top Republican operatives are primed to unleash a new two-pronged offensive that will attack Obama as weak on national security, and will be based, in part, on new intelligence information regarding the attacks in Libya that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens on Sept. 11."
More than that, the "scoop" made no sense.
This source of this scoop, wrote Unger, had "firsthand knowledge of private, high-level conversations in the Romney camp that took place in Washington, D.C., last week." According to the source, "over and over again they talked about how it would be just like Jimmy Carter’s failed raid [on Iran in 1980]," and "they feel it is going to give them a last-minute landslide in the election." Curiously, the source predicted that the strategy would fail.
The story went up at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time. Forty-three minutes later, Blumenthal sent Hillary Clinton an email with the text of the story and the subject "Romney's last gambit. Got done and published." In other words, Blumenthal, formerly a Salon columnist, was taking credit for the Romney story being placed in Salon.
In a now-deleted tweet, Romney strategist Stu Stevens snarked that it was "a mistake" to invite Blumenthal into a secret strategy session. "This was just a joke," Stevens added in an e-mail, "highlighting he knew nothing."
More than that, the "scoop" made no sense. The Romney campaign was based in Boston, not Washington. The idea of hitting the White House over the Benghazi attacks was hardly being dreamed up in secret—Romney had done it weeks earlier, and been chastened by a media blowback. Surrogates, however, continued to talk plenty about Benghazi. The only point to the story was that it made Romney's team look callow, which was how allies of the Obama administration wanted them to look.
The running theme of Blumenthal's missives to his "old friend," the Democratic frontrunner, is that Blumenthal is a gusher of terrible advice. The revelation of these emails is that even terrible advice could pay off, if the media was willing to accept a narrative that made the Clintons' enemies look malicious. Republicans did not quite need a FOIA to discover that, but it certainly didn't hur
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Hillary Clinton Emails Give Peek into Personal Life, Habits and Style
In the 296 Hillary Clinton emails released Friday afternoon by the State Department, we see a lot of backstage back-and-forth discussion of the deadly 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
We also get a rare peek at some of the peculiarities of her daily life as President Obama's secretary of state – starting with the fact that, in email, her staff addressed her, simply, as "H."
And with the famously buttoned-up former First Lady, some staffers were fairly casual in their parlance.
On Dec. 20, 2012, as she was at home recovering from a concussion due to a fall, Clinton emailed two top aides, Thomas Nides and William Burns, who were headed to Capitol Hill to testify before Congress on her behalf.
"I'll be nursing my cracked head and cheering you on as you 'remain calm and carry on!' " Clinton wrote.
Nides wrote back with shoddy punctuation and spelling: "Thanks I wish I could tell u I am looking forward to this but it would be a lie! Get better...."
Then there are the idiosyncrasies of Clinton's tightly scheduled days. Clinton's daily planner from her scheduler was often broken down into 5-minute blocks (as in the five minutes Clinton was to "drop by" the surprise birthday party of communications strategist Philippe Reines) and included the day's weather report, plus the planned overnight whereabouts of Clinton and her husband.
The schedule for Nov. 26, 2012, noted: "HRC RON Washington, DC; WJC RON Chappaqua, NY."
Translation: Hillary Rodham Clinton, remain overnight Washington, DC; William Jefferson Clinton, remain overnight Chappaqua, NY.
That same schedule quaintly listed Undersecretary Pat Kennedy as Clinton's "plus one" for an afternoon meeting in the White House Situation Room.
Perhaps the most colorful commentary in the entire collection comes from Reines, describing for colleagues how Monica Langley of The Wall Street Journal moved her chair uncomfortably close to Clinton during an Oct. 10, 2012, interview in the Secretary's outer office at the State Department:
"...she moved that yellow chair as close as it went. Knee to knee. Amazed she didn't try knee in between knee. And if that wasn't enough, she leaned forward. More like a pivot, as far as her torso could fold forward to minimize the space between their heads. Was like the dental hygienist rolling around the floor to get the best access to your mouth depending on what tooth she was trying to get access to I've never seen a Westerner invade her space like that And even the non Westerners I've seen do it based on cultural differences have been only briefly to greet, This went on like that for 51 minutes – unacceptable in any culture. I don't even think you see that behavior among any type of mammal. The touching the leg and repeatedly calling her 'Hillary' was just gravy. But it was wonderful. One of the best interviews I've ever witnessed. Wish it were on live tv."
The emails, which you can read for yourself here, are just the first batch of some 30,000 pieces of electronic correspondence Clinton turned over to State from her controversial private server.
>From the presidential campaign trail on Friday, Clinton said of the remaining emails that she is pressing the State Department to release "all of them as soon as possible."
Subject: Ranking Member Smith Responds to Clinton Email Release
For Immediate Release:
Friday, May 22, 2015
Contact: Michael Amato: (202) 225-6902
Ranking Member Smith Responds to Clinton Email Release
Washington D.C. – House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith, who is a member of the Benghazi Select Committee, released the following statement in response to the release of Secretary Clinton’s e-mails:
I am pleased to see that the State Department finally decided to release all of Secretary Clinton’s e-mails. The American people can see for themselves that the wild claims made by Republican conspiracy theorists are completely false. Chairman Gowdy should now schedule Secretary Clinton’s public testimony and put an end to this taxpayer funded witch hunt.
After spending nearly $3 million and hosting three hearings, the only accomplishment this committee can tout is that is has out lasted the investigations into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the attacks on Pearl Harbor, and Iran-Contra. By January 2016, it will have lasted longer than the 9/11 Commission. This leaves us with only two feasible conclusions: either this committee is blatantly political or wholly incompetent. Either way, it’s time to bring this to an end.
The American people have all the information they need and we should continue to focus on preventing another attack, not scoring political points based on what we all agree was a tragedy.
Michael J. Amato
Professional Staff Member
House Armed Services Committee
Office: 202.226.8454 | Cell: 202.225.6902
2340 Rayburn House Office Building
Twitter: @hascdemocrats; @mjjamato
Facebook: House Armed Services Democrats
On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 4:20 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/05/22/sorry-gop-there-s-no-smoking-gun-in-hillary-clinton-s-benghazi-emails.htmlSorry, GOP. There’s No Smoking Gun In Hillary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails.
Conspiracy-minded conservatives, be warned: The trove of Clinton emails don’t prove much about her culpability for the infamous 9/11 anniversary attacks.If Republicans were looking for a silver bullet to use against Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, the State Department’s Friday document dump about Benghazi wasn’t it.
There’s no illicit weapons Libyan program to be found in the emails, as some have speculated. No ‘stand-down’ order. Just a hectic flow of information to and from Hillary Clinton—about danger, about death, and ultimately, about condolences.
The State Department released Friday 296 emails involving Hillary Clinton during her tenure as Secretary of State, from 2009 to 2013. The documents include some 300 emails related to Benghazi, which were turned over to the Congressional committee investigating the 2012 attacks. The attacks left four Americans dead, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya.
The hundreds of emails released by the agency show a Secretary of State who was deeply engaged on Libyan issues—but usually just in a crisis. While Clinton was a key proponent of intervening in Libya to protect civilians under threat from then-Libyan leader Moammar Qadhafi, her emails show that she took a largely hands off approach towards the country.
Of course, this document trove is an incomplete view, at best. It excludes any phone calls, briefings or memos. It doesn’t include the emails that were deleted by Clinton—and we know there were many. (Republicans noted “inexplicable gaps” in Secretary Clinton’s emails over several time periods, such as from Oct. 2011 to Jan. 2012, and from April 2012 to July 2012. ) And it was released by a State Department that was formerly helmed by Clinton and is still part of a Democratic administration.
But according to her Benghazi-related email traffic, Clinton appears to be only been involved at times of crisis and even then deferred to those on the ground, including Stevens and friends outside government.
Clinton’s emails show that the late Amb. Christopher Stevens had multiple brushes with danger in Benghazi in 2011—more than a year before the September 2012 attacks that would ultimately take his life.
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received an update about Stevens’ 2011 security situation: that there had been intelligence indicating a credible threat to his safety, and that officials were moving swiftly out of the hotel he was staying at in Benghazi.
“There is credible threat info against the hotel that our team is using—and the rest of the Intl community is using, for that matter… DS [Diplomatic Security] going to evacuate our people to alt locations. Info suggested attack in next 24-48 hours,” wrote top Clinton aide Jacob Sullivan in an email to Clinton on June 10, 2011, with the subject line, ‘Hotel in Benghazi.’
At the time Stevens was a special envoy to Libya, and the U.S. had joined a U.N. campaign to set up a no-fly zone to assist rebels in the overthrow of Muammar Qadhafi.
In a separate incident, in April 2011, a State Department official wrote:
“The situation in Ajdabiyah has worsened to the point Stevens is considering departure from Benghazi. The envoy’s delegation is currently doing a phased checkout (paying the hotel bills, moving some comms to the boat, etc). He will monitor the situation to see if it deteriorates further, but no decision has been made on departure.”
The communications received by the Secretary of State illustrate the fast pace of security decisions made on the ground—but don’t show Clinton with a direct role in these decisions. For example, there’s no indication that Clinton intervened in the decision-making process when told about Stevens’ 2011 security scares.
Clinton was heavily criticized when it emerged in March that she had used a private email server to conduct business while she was Secretary of State. Her private email accounts prevented the normal process of archiving official government records. Clinton’s staff had turned over some 55,000 pages of email correspondence to the State Department in December 2014.
Democrats on the Select Benghazi Committee had urged the release of Benghazi-related emails for months. Clinton herself had urged the State Department to swiftly publish the emails, telling reporters earlier this week that she wanted them in the public domain as soon as possible.
“I am pleased that the State Department released the complete set of Secretary Clinton’s emails about Benghazi—as Democrats requested months ago,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the committee.
The American people can now read all of these emails and see for themselves that they contain no evidence to back up claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years.
In the time between the June 2011 security scare and the September 2012 terrorist attacks, the mood in Libya ebbed and flowed—Stevens left Libya in November 2011 before returning as U.S. ambassador in May 2012.
In July, Libya held national elections which went off well, leading to people heralding the country worldwide. Meanwhile, Islamist flags had emerged on buildings throughout Benghazi.
The correspondence in summer 2012 shows a somewhat positive situation in Libya: the last email from Stevens that Clinton receives paints a rosy picture: in July 2012 Sen. John McCain is in Tripoli, Libya, being lauded for his support of the rebels.
“The atmosphere in Tripoli is very festive,” Stevens wrote in one email on July 7, 2012. “The gov’t declared today a holiday and people are driving around honking and waving flags and making peace sign gestures… McCain was applauded and thanked for his support wherever we went.”
The world’s focus doesn’t dwell on Libya, and Clinton doesn’t receive additional emails about Benghazi again until the 2012 attacks on U.S. facilities.
By September 2012, the situation in Libya had deteriorated. In a diary entry on Sept. 6, Stevens wrote about a “security vacuum” and “dicey conditions,” even suggesting that he was on an “Islamist ‘hit list’ in Benghazi.”
On the fateful day of Sept. 11, 2012, at approximately 4 p.m. in Washington, D.C., the first attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound occurred. Clinton had previously testified (PDF) that she was at the State Department that day, which could explain why she did not send or receive a large volume of emails about Benghazi.
She becomes more active on emails that evening, and at 11:37 p.m., she receives word through her Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills that the Libyan government had confirmed Amb. Steven’s death.
“Cheryl told me the Libyans confirmed his death. Should we announce tonight or wait until morning?” Clinton wrote in an email to top aides.
“The situation has worsened to the point Stevens is considering departure from Benghazi. The envoy's delegation is currently doing a phased checkout.”Throughout the morning after the initial attacks she has a lot of activity: in particular she received a large number of messages expressing condolences to her and the State Department over the death of the ambassador.
“The Ambassador was a perfect role model of the kind of person we need representing us around the world, and the others had so much to give—and already had given so much,” said former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates.
“What a wonderful, strong and moving statement by your boss. please tell her how much Sen. McCain appreciated it. Me too,” wrote a top national security aide for Sen. John McCain.
That weekend, Clinton continued to exchange emails on the Benghazi issue. On Saturday Sept. 15, the day before Susan Rice appeared on cable shows to make the since-rescinded claim that the Benghazi attacks were the result of protests-turned-violent, Clinton was involved arranging calls from her home and the collection of an action memo via classified courier.
The emails give insight into how Clinton operated at the time: using classified couriers to move memos and getting on the phone with other world leaders, rather than using email.
None of the released emails show Clinton being involved with Rice’s appearance on the Sunday shows, or the discussion of what Rice should say. She does, however, receive a transcript of what Rice would eventually say.
Findings of the Republican-led Select committee on Benghazi may not be releaseduntil sometime in 2016, in the thick of campaign season.
If the Select Committee continues to operate through the end of the 2015, its estimated cost will rise to $6 million dollars. The House Select Committee on Benghazi was established in May 2014. If it continues through to the end of 2015, it will have been investigating for 19 months—longer than other major, comparable investigations.
(To compare, the joint inquiry into the intelligence community’s actions with regard to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks took less than a year. The Senate Watergate committee operated for about 17 months before presenting its findings. And the Warren Commission on the assassination of President Kennedy operated for under a year.)
The release of Friday’s Benghazi-related emails has itself been months in the waiting: the State Department had been going through an excruciating process of assessing the emails for any information that would show sensitive or personally identifiable information, and then removing it. The State Department will now turn its attention to performing the same task on thousands of Clinton emails that are not related to Benghazi.
In fact, Hillary Clinton’s email correspondence has the potential to generate headlines at least through the end of the year, acting as a disruptive force that distracts from her presidential campaign.
For Republican committee chairman Trey Gowdy, the release of these emails are just the first step in a long slog to “collect and evaluate all of the relevant and material information necessary.” Gowdy said that the emails released Friday had all been exclusively reviewed and released only after review by her own lawyers.
Earlier this week, a federal judge had dismissed a State Department plan to release her email archives, comprised of some 55,000 pages of emails, by January 2016. Instead, the judge asked the State Department to come up with a plan to gradually release the emails in stages.
In the nearer term, Hillary Clinton is expected to appear before the Select Committee on Benghazi, Gowdy said last week that he will not schedule the former Secretary of State’s testimony until the State Department turns over more documents.
“The Select Committee should schedule Secretary Clinton’s public testimony now and stop wasting taxpayer money dragging out this political charade to harm Secretary Clinton’s bid for president,” Cummings, a Democrat, said Friday.
The New York Times obtained and published about a third of the Clinton Benghazi emails earlier this week, revealing that longtime Clinton friend Sidney Blumenthal had frequently written to her about Libya, serving as a source of information about the country before and after the 2012 attacks.
While Blumenthal had originally blamed demonstrators in the American diplomatic facility in Benghazi, a subsequent memo fingered a Libyan terrorist group for the attacks, arguing that they had used the demonstrations as cover for the violence. This week, the Select Committee on Benghazi subpoenaed Blumenthal to appear before the panel.
--On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 4:16 PM, Tyson Brody <tbrody@hillaryclinton.com> wrote:How Bad Spin Works: A Handy Lesson from the Clinton/Blumenthal E-Mails
May 22, 2015 3:46 PM EDT
The sort of intra-Washington chicanery that is not scandalous, but not often revealed.
The just-released batch of emails from Hillary Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State is full of sausage-making. It's the sort of intra-Washington chicanery that is not scandalous, but not often revealed, because human beings are capable of embarrassment. One of the more excruciating exchanges comes when Sidney Blumenthal, the journalist turned Clinton confidant, offered up pro bono spin work during the weeks before the 2012 election when Republicans started to ask why the attack on America's consulate in Benghazi had not been stopped.
On the morning of October 1, journalist Craig Unger—best known for the 2004 cui bono bestseller House of Bush, House of Saud—published a column in Salon that revealed a "Jimmy Carter strategy" being formulated by Mitt Romney's presidential campaign.
"According to a highly reliable source," wrote Unger, "as Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama prepare for the first presidential debate Wednesday night, top Republican operatives are primed to unleash a new two-pronged offensive that will attack Obama as weak on national security, and will be based, in part, on new intelligence information regarding the attacks in Libya that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens on Sept. 11."
More than that, the "scoop" made no sense.
This source of this scoop, wrote Unger, had "firsthand knowledge of private, high-level conversations in the Romney camp that took place in Washington, D.C., last week." According to the source, "over and over again they talked about how it would be just like Jimmy Carter’s failed raid [on Iran in 1980]," and "they feel it is going to give them a last-minute landslide in the election." Curiously, the source predicted that the strategy would fail.
The story went up at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time. Forty-three minutes later, Blumenthal sent Hillary Clinton an email with the text of the story and the subject "Romney's last gambit. Got done and published." In other words, Blumenthal, formerly a Salon columnist, was taking credit for the Romney story being placed in Salon.
In a now-deleted tweet, Romney strategist Stu Stevens snarked that it was "a mistake" to invite Blumenthal into a secret strategy session. "This was just a joke," Stevens added in an e-mail, "highlighting he knew nothing."
More than that, the "scoop" made no sense. The Romney campaign was based in Boston, not Washington. The idea of hitting the White House over the Benghazi attacks was hardly being dreamed up in secret—Romney had done it weeks earlier, and been chastened by a media blowback. Surrogates, however, continued to talk plenty about Benghazi. The only point to the story was that it made Romney's team look callow, which was how allies of the Obama administration wanted them to look.
The running theme of Blumenthal's missives to his "old friend," the Democratic frontrunner, is that Blumenthal is a gusher of terrible advice. The revelation of these emails is that even terrible advice could pay off, if the media was willing to accept a narrative that made the Clintons' enemies look malicious. Republicans did not quite need a FOIA to discover that, but it certainly didn't hur
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