The sheer size of the planned posting on the State Department's website—at least 6,106 pages, according to a recent court filing—should give Clinton's critics and her defenders a lot to digest. The volume of emails slated to go public Monday is roughly the same as that of all of Clinton's messages unveiled up to this point.
One of the most closely watched aspects of Monday's release will be how many of the messages the State Department and U.S. intelligence agencies deem classified on national security grounds. In previous disclosures, 63 messages have been partially withheld due to classified information. That number seems certain to grow substantially in the new batch.
In addition, the Intelligence Community Inspector General has said at least two emails on Clinton's account contained "TOP SECRET" information subject to special protection because it was derived from electronic or aerial surveillance. The State Department has disputed that conclusion. The FBI is also conducting an investigation of how the arguably classified material made it onto Clinton's server.
The classification issues have created a political and public relations controversy for Clinton—the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination—and have fueled questions about the wisdom of her opting to handle all her email traffic during her four years as America's top diplomat on a private email account and server housed at the home she shares with former President Bill Clinton in Chappaqua, N.Y.
Clinton, who insisted at the outset of the controversy in March that there was no classified information in her email, now says nothing was marked as classified at the time. She has also described the classification issues as the result of disputes between the State Department and other intelligence agencies. The Democratic presidential candidate's aides have also stressed that since classified information is not supposed to be sent to ordinary government email accounts or personal accounts, her use of a personal one isn't particularly relevant.
