As a Senator in 2011, Sec. of State John Kerry sent an email containing information that the State Department now says is classified as “Secret” from a non-government account to Hillary Clinton, agency spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday.
The tranche of Hillary Clinton records released on Friday contains the sensitive May 11, 2011 email, which is heavily redacted because it contains foreign government information. In the email, which Kerry sent from his iPad and was first reported on Friday, the former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee discussed negotiations between India and Pakistan. (RELATED: State Dept. Records Show John Kerry Sent Hillary A ‘SECRET’ Email From His iPad)
Kirby was asked Monday whether Kerry sent the email from a personal email address, but the spokesman did not have an answer at the time. By Tuesday, he did.
“The one that we talked about being upgraded to ‘Secret’ was sent from a non-official account, and the account from which it was sent is no longer active,” Kirby said during the daily press briefing.
As Associated Press reporter Matt Lee noted in his questions to Kirby on Tuesday, the Clinton emails also show that Kerry sent an email on Feb. 4, 2012 that is now completely redacted and classified as “Confidential,” the lowest classification category.
The two documents, which are among the emails that the State Department says were not classified when they were originated, are the first released by the agency which show Kerry sent highly sensitive information. The 2004 Democratic presidential nominee has been relatively silent throughout the Clinton email scandal. He has directed the State Department office of the inspector general to investigate records keeping processes at the agency but has avoided criticizing his own agency or Clinton for contributing to the quagmire.
Asked on Tuesday how Kerry responds to the revelation of the “Secret” email, Kirby had nothing to offer.
“I have not spoken to the secretary about his reaction to the email being out there,” he said.