AP Photo Latest Hillary Clinton emails drop: Mills and Abedin, nomination sign-offs and a very British soiree The State Department also sends more than 1,600 pages of additional records to House Benghazi panel.

The State Department fired off a double-barreled barrage of documents Friday, posting online about 1,500 pages of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's emails and delivering to the House Benghazi Committee a slightly larger batch of records from Clinton's top aides.

The court-ordered public email release came as State presses to meet a judge's deadline to disclose all releasable portions of Clinton's emails in its possession by Monday night.


"We take our obligations to the court seriously and are making every effort to comply with this order. We do intend, in that spirit, to make a final production on Monday," State spokesman Mark Toner said Friday. "We’re still reviewing some of these emails – a lot of them, frankly. We’re going to be working hard through the weekend."

Friday's release involved no highly classified documents, although 88 emails or attachments were designated as "Confidential" — the lowest tier of classification. That brings the total number of messages deemed classified in Clinton's account on her family's private server to about 1,840, with 21 of those "Secret" and 22 "Top Secret." None was marked classified at the time it was sent.

More "Secret" or "Top Secret" designations could be coming Monday, since that is a deadline for State and intelligence agencies to sort out their differences on the classification issues and decide what determinations can be defended in court.

That final release — which is expected but not certain since State blew a similar deadline last month — comes on the eve of a key test for Clinton's campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. In the so-called Super Tuesday contests next week, delegates from 12 states are simultaneously on the line.

Minutes before the new set of emails was posted on the State Department website Friday, the House Select Committee on Benghazi announced that the agency just handed over more than 1,600 additional pages of Libya-related records — a disclosure that comes about four months after Clinton took the stand to testify.

The State Department in early January told a federal court in a FOIA lawsuit that it recently discovered a new batch of documents from the Office of the Secretary, which could have included materials from Clinton’s chief of staff Cheryl Mills, and deputy chiefs of staff like Jake Sullivan and Huma Abedin, among others schedulers. A State official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the records sent to the Hill Friday are from this trove.

"The State recently located documents from electronic sources not previously searched," said the official, who noted that more than 93,000 pages were previously turned over to the committee.

In a court filing earlier this month, State said officials originally overlooked the records because they didn’t realize some of the documents had been “retired” to State archives, but Benghazi Committee Republicans took it as what they’ve called ongoing stonewalling from the administration. “The administration still has not turned over records this committee requested nearly a year ago,” the GOP-controlled panel tweeted.

The email messages that went public just before 6 p.m. Friday run the gamut, including topics from the Arab Spring to Wikileaks to struggles to get the White House to make key appointments.

Here's POLITICO's look at some of the most interesting messages in the latest document dump:

State jittery about report of U.S. corruption probe into brother of Afghan President Karzai

State officials were not at all pleased in September 2010, when the Wall Street Journal said it planned to report that the Justice Department was pursuing a corruption investigation of Mahmoud Karzai, a brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

"Here it comes, as we expected. I assume it will in [sic] Monday's journal--and a big problem," wrote U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke. "Damage limitation is all we can try to do."

Holbrooke forwarded that message to Sullivan, insisting that he tell Clinton about the problem. "Make sure She [sic] knows about this," the veteran diplomat wrote. Sullivan sent the message onto Clinton seven minutes later.

In 2014, an Afghan judge froze the assets of Mahmoud Karzai as part of a case pursuing malfeasance at the Kabul Bank. However, Holbrooke — who died unexpectedly about three months after the 2010 email exchange — said the U.S. probe was "apparently unrelated to the bank." No charges have ever been made public in the U.S. inquiry.

State appears to claim climate official's email to New York Times reporter is classified

One email designated as classified in the new batch as containing diplomatic secrets consists largely of the text of an email Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern sent to New York Times reporter John Broder.

Stern emailed top White House and State Department officials in December 2009, relaying that he had sent Broder an email critiquing a story summarizing just-concluded climate talks in Copenhagen.

"Hey piece in IHT [International Herald Tribune] today is good and thoughtful, tho I think misses a bit -- especially in headline (which I know you don't write) -- the upsides of what transpired....If you'd have laid down a Vegas bet on Wednesday night that we'd get the Accord, you'd be a rich man now. This was a big deal. Not the treaty people wanted, but that was a mirage by the time Copenhagen opened, and even well before that."

Stern adds: "We'll see where the process goes." After that, State officials have redacted most of three lines apparently sent to Broder. The notations are not crystal clear, but the nearest one indicates that the information is classified "Confidential" on foreign relations grounds.

Philip Gordon delivers on Clinton’s gossip crave

In one email, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Gordon forwarded Clinton a gossip blog poking fun at U.S. Ambassador to the UK Louis B Susman. Susman apparently did not show for a London socialite toast of Ronald Reagan — and was publicly mocked by a Clinton ally in the region for skipping.

“This is way more than you wanted to know, but since you asked (and know some of the characters involved),” Gordon wrote on July 8, 2011.

The article said it was “one of the most glittering events of the year, attracting some of the greatest names in American and British politics.” ... “But as the British roasted lamb and the sunny Californian chardonnay were cleared away, one notable absence was the hottest topic among guests at the Guildhall dinner in honour of Ronald Reagan's centenary. Where was the American ambassador to London, Louis B Susman?”

According to the story, one of Clinton’s allies took a whack at him for dissing the soiree: “[T]he surprise at Mr Susman's absence turned to annoyance. ‘Our ambassador should be here,’ said Lynn de Rothschild … who was one of Hillary Clinton's key fundraisers in 2008 …‘This was an historic dinner to mark Reagan's centenary and to celebrate him as the man who ended the Cold War. What could not be more important?’”

Clinton’s reply? “Whew...what a story! Thx.”

“The British press can find a scandal in anything -- I just hope they're not hacking this phone,” Gordon quipped.

PJ Crowley wants in on the action.

State Department spokesman PJ Crowley in another message lodged a sharp protest after top officials declined to send him to a series of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks held in Egypt in September 2010. His absence, the assistant secretary for public affairs told Mills, hurts “my credibility as the spokesman.”

“It is very difficult to explain why the State Department spokesman is not present at a direct negotiation between the Palestinians and the Israelis, one of the administration's highest priorities and an event at which there will be a significant number of media," Crowley wrote.

And he didn’t stop there: “Whether we have a lot to say or a little to say, this will be a global media event and the State Department spokesman will not be there … [T]his undermines the trip and ultimately the Secretary. I am a team player and will remain a team player, but this is a decision that comes with a cost, including my credibility as the spokesman.”

Mills forwarded his complaint up the chain to Clinton.

About six months later, Crowley resigned after criticizing the military's treatment of Army Private Bradley Manning, the servicemember accused and later convicted of leaking thousands of military reports and diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks

Blumenthal sees McDonough and Brennan as dark forces in West Wing

As White House Counsel Greg Craig was being forced out in late 2009, informal Clinton adviser Sidney Blumenthal portrayed him as the victim of a cabal by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and deputy national security advisers John Brennan and Denis McDonough.

"Rahm and underling McDonough, the assassin-priest, play act in "24," Jack [sic] Brennan is a mole for the Tenet clique, working within the White House, not for the White House; and presented with difficulties Obama asks for more options please," Blumenthal wrote to Clinton, forwarding a "personal email" from one of his journalist friends detailing what she'd discovered about the machinations.

No reply or comment from Clinton was attached to the messages or others released thus far.

Cryptic exchanges between McDonough and Mills

Many of the newly-disclosed messages required interagency coordination, often with the White House, before release. Several in that category are exchanges between top National Security Council official McDonough (now White House chief of staff) and Mills.

In one exchange, McDonough seems taken by surprise at a Daily Beast article titled, "Can This Man Outsmart the Taliban," reporting that longtime ABC News diplomatic reporter David Ensor had been named to be State's top spokesperson in Afghanistan.

"Is this story accurate? McDonough asked Mills and others. She kicked it to Holbrooke's team who confirmed it, leading to a comment from McDonough that was redacted as reflecting internal deliberative process. Within a half hour, Mills forwarded the message to Clinton.

Several emails appear to include complaints about long delays in getting the White House to sign off on State Department nominations or appointments.

"They explained that because I was vetted over one year ago for this position, the long delay in my appointment requires a review [of] the vetting," a prospective official wrote to Mills in February 2010 . The author's name was deleted in the version made public Friday.

"Please. Please. Can you address?" Mills wrote to McDonough. Mills also sent that message to Clinton, offering her talking points on the issue to convey in some planned discussion.

While some of the exchanges bespeak some tension, others are more cordial.

In an October 30, 2009 email, McDonough apologizes for having missed a lunch with Mills and someone named Robert.

"I want to apologize for having missed lunch today. On the way out the door [National Security Adviser Gen. Jim] Jones called a meeting.... I regret missing it, and hope to see you both soon," he wrote. "Happy Halloween, Denis"

Mills sent the message on to Clinton. Their exchange about it was redacted.

In another email chain, Mills offers — shouts, really — an important safety tip to McDonough, who regularly biked to work before he was named chief of staff in 2013.

"DON'T TEXT WHILE BIKING!" she wrote.