Safe given to lawyer among irregularities seen in review of Hillary Clinton emails

When State Department officials first discovered that Hillary Rodham Clinton’s personal email account contained classified information, they did not seize the thumb drive containing her digitally archived inbox but rather provided her attorney a special safe to secure the device, according to interviews and documents.

The move allowed Mrs. Clinton’s attorney to keep the device for several additional weeks while State officials reviewed paper copies of the emails for possible classified data. Officials were unconcerned that the thumb drive remained out of their possession because preservation orders from courts and Congress would ensure that her attorney would not destroy the evidence. The digital archive was turned over to the FBI for examination this month.

Throughout the review process, career State officials who normally handle the release of data under the Freedom of Information Act ran into disagreements with attorneys about which information in the emails was classified, The Washington Times has learned.

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