Hillary Clinton Emails: Your Questions Answered
— -- There were big developments last night in the ongoing story of Hillary Clinton's private email server.
First, she directed her campaign to turn over the server to the FBI, which is investigating her handling of potentially sensitive material. And second, it was revealed from the Intelligence Community's internal watchdog that among the emails that it has reviewed so far, at least two of the emails on that server contained information that has been deemed "TOP SECRET." The Intelligence Community is a collection of 17 U.S. government agencies that conduct intelligence activities.
These developments beg some questions, so here are some answers:
What's on the server and why did she turn it over?
Despite Clinton's repeated assurances that no one needs to see her private server, her campaign now believes the FBI should see it to prove that there is no longer any sensitive government material on non-government servers. The server has been wiped clean, according to her campaign. Clinton's lawyers have also turned over a thumb drive that they say contains all the same emails she has already handed to the State Department.
So is she in trouble for the "TOP SECRET" stuff?
No. The information was deemed top secret only after it was forwarded to Clinton, and wasn't considered as such at the time it went through her server. However, the Intelligence Community believes there are other emails -- perhaps "hundreds" -- that contained classified information at the time they were sent, which, if proven true, could become more of a problem for the Democratic front runner. She has consistently claimed her private email was never used to handle classified information.
There are generally four levels of classified information: Top secret, secret, confidential and restricted.
Where are all her emails?
Remember that the State Department is in the process of releasing 55,000 pages of emails that she turned over. So far, the State Department has published 3,600 of 30,000 of her emails, many of them heavily redacted. The Department is required by a federal court to have all of them out by Jan. 26, 2016.
Will the server show new emails?
No, according to the Clinton campaign. Not only were all emails deleted from the server but earlier this week Clinton signed a statement under the penalty of perjury to a federal judge that she has turned over all emails from the server "that were or potentially were federal records."
Can the FBI use forensics to see what was on the server before it was wiped?
Maybe, but the Clinton campaign has indicated that it believes that's not really what the FBI is after. All indications are that the FBI and Intelligence Community want these pieces of hardware just to make sure no more classified information exists on platforms outside its own walls, not to check what may have been on it before.
Why did the Intelligence Community’s inspector general refer this matter to the FBI in the first place?
The Intelligence Community's inspector general said from the beginning that it made a "counterintelligence referral" -- not a "criminal referral" -- to the FBI. The main concern was that classified information could be compromised because it was sent over unsecured networks and remained in the hands of Clinton or her legal team, not that any crimes may have been committed, a spokeswoman for the Intelligence Community's IG previously told ABC News.