WASHINGTON (TheBlaze/AP) -- The State Department released the first batch of emails from Hillary Rodham Clinton's tenure as secretary of state on Friday, offering additional insight into how she reacted to the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf said publication includes 296 emails given to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
WASHINGTON - JUNE 23: U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) reads documents during a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee June 23, 2005 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The hearing was focused on U.S. military strategy and operations in Iraq. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
The documents cover emails between 2011 and 2012 related to the Benghazi facility and its security, and to the broader issue of a U.S. diplomatic presence in Libya.
The State Department is still reviewing 55,000 further pages of emails from Clinton's private email account. They'll be published on a rolling basis.
The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks.
— Department of State (@StateDept) May 22, 2015The Associated Press also revealed on Friday that Clinton received information on her private email server that has now been classified about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi.
The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff Jake Sullivan, 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 but was upgraded from "unclassified" to "secret" on Friday at the request of the FBI, according to State Department officials. They said 23 words of the Nov. 18, 2012, message were redacted from the day's release of 296 emails totaling 896 pages to protect information that could damage foreign relations.
Because the information was not classified at the time the email was sent, no laws were violated, but Friday's redaction shows that Clinton received sensitive information on her unsecured personal server.
It is at the end of a chain of communication that originated with Bill Roebuck, the then-director of the Office of Maghreb Affairs, that pointed out that Libyan police had arrested several people who might have connections to the attack. The redacted portion appears to relate to who provided the information about the alleged suspects to the Libyans. A total of five lines related to the source of the information were affected, but only the 23 words were deleted because the FBI deemed them to be classified.
Roebuck's email was sent to a number of senior officials, including the former assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs, Elizabeth Jones, who then sent it to Sullivan with the comment: "This is preliminary, but very interesting. FBI in Tripoli is fully involved."
Sullivan then forwarded the email to Clinton with the comment: "FYI."
There was no immediate indication that Clinton herself forwarded the email.
You can browse through the emails here.
Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, released a statement reacting to the new Clinton emails on Friday.
STATEMENT (@ABCPolitics): House Select Committee on Benghazi Chair Trey Gowdy on new Clinton emails
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