Hillary: ‘I Certainly Did Not Believe That I Received Or Sent’ Any Classified Material

On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” presumptive Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, “I certainly did not believe that I received or sent any material that was classified, and, indeed, any of the documents that have been referred to, I think were not marked, or were marked inaccurately, as has now been clarified.”

Hillary said, in response to anchor Wolf Blitzer bringing up FBI Director James Comey’s criticisms of her handling of classified information, “I think the director clarified that comment, to some extent, pointing out that some of what had been thought to be classified apparently was not. The State Department also made that clear. I think there are about 300 people in the government, mostly in the State Department, but in other high positions in the government with whom I emailed over the course of four years, they, I believe, did not believe they were sending any material that was classified. They were pursuing their responsibilities. I do not think they were careless. And, as I have said many times, I certainly did not believe that I received or sent any material that was classified, and, indeed, any of the documents that have been referred to, I think were not marked, or were marked inaccurately, as has now been clarified.”

Blitzer countered, “But the FBI director did say about 110 emails were classified, various forms of classification. Even if they had not been marked, he said someone in your position as Secretary of State should have known better. Here’s the question, should you have known better?”

Hillary responded, “I just believe that the material that was being communicated, by professionals, many with years of handling sensitive classified material, they did not believe that it was. I did not have a basis for second-guessing their conclusion. And these were not marked. They were not marked, and in retrospect, some have said, well, they should have been, but they were not at the time.”

(h/t GOP War Room)

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett