State Department finds 22 top secret emails on Clinton's home server

The State Department said today it would withhold from public release 22 emails from Hillary Clinton’s home server that contained top secret information.

The 37 pages include messages a key intelligence official said concerned “special access programs”—highly restricted, classified information that could identify confidential sources or clandestine programs.

“The documents are being upgraded at the request of the intelligence community because they contain a category of top secret information,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said. Though the information is considered top secret today, it might or might not have had that classification at the time the emails were sent. The State Department’s Diplomatic Security and Intelligence and Research bureaus are investigating to see if any rules were breached at the time of transmission.

Clinton, who holds a narrow lead in Iowa polls over Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., going into the Monday’s caucuses, used a private email server for government business when she was secretary of state. She has insisted she never sent or received classified information on the server and called for public release of her emails to prove it. But the emails in question have been deemed too sensitive even to be released as redacted versions.

“We firmly oppose the complete blocking of the release of these emails,” Clinton campaign spokesman Brain Fallon said. “Since first providing her emails to the State Department more than one year ago, Hillary Clinton has urged that they be made available to the public. We feel no differently today.”

Republicans have characterized Clinton’s email use as an abuse of public trust. In a statement today, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Clinton had put national security at risk: “With even more emails on her secret server found to contain ‘Top Secret’ information, Hillary Clinton has removed all doubt she cannot be trusted with the presidency.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.