State Department spokesman John Kirby would not comment on a Fox News report Tuesday which alleges that Hillary Clinton sent classified information deemed "beyond top secret" from her private email server.
The report contains an unclassified letter from an inspector general to members of Congress that states Clinton transmitted "special access program" (SAP) information on her private email server. Such information is "even more sensitive than that designated as ‘top secret,’" Fox News reported.
Reuters reporter Arshad Mohammed asked Kirby whether he had any reason to believe that Clinton sent information that was labeled beyond top secret.
"Do you have any comment on this, and do you have any reason to believe that there was any such highly classified information on her email server?" Mohammed said.
Kirby would not speak directly to the letter but said the State Department is devoted to combing through Clinton’s emails and marking information top secret when necessary, as they have done "consistently" in the past.
"Well I wouldn’t speak to a letter written by the intel community, I think that would be for them to speak to. What I’ll tell you is that we are focused on, and remain focused on, releasing the rest of — the remainder of — former Secretary Clinton’s emails in a manner that protects sensitive information," Kirby said. "Our FOIA review process is still ongoing, and once that process is complete, if it is determined that information should be classified as top secret then we will do so, as we have consistently done throughout the process."
Mohammed pressed Kirby to respond to the allegations contained in the report, considering that Clinton is a former State Department official.
"[The report] makes an allegation that concerns a former secretary, and therefore I think it’s a reasonable thing to ask you about. Are you in a position to say anything about whether you believe there may have been information classified at that level, which I gather is beyond top secret on her home email server, or deny it, you know?" Mohammed asked.
Kirby again declined to say whether Clinton sent SAP information on her server.
"I’m not in a position to comment any more than what I’ve already done here. I’m afraid I’m going to have to leave it at how I left it," Kirby said.