New batch of Hillary Clinton emails show her settling in as secretary of state

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last updated 17 August 2015

On Tuesday night, the State Department released a batch of about 3,000 pages of emails from the first few months of Hillary Clinton's tenure as secretary of state. Most of the emails, previously hosted on Clinton's home server, deal with meetings, phone calls, and other logistical details, but there are some points of interest for Clinton watchers.

Clinton appears to have been pretty insecure about serving in the administration of a president who defeated her in the primaries, asking aides about several possible slights from the White House, The New York Times reports. Both White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel (now the mayor of Chicago) and Obama adviser David Axelrod had to ask Clinton aides for her private email address in the first half of 2009, and her aides asked Clinton before passing them on.

Informal Clinton adviser Sidney Blumenthal also at least attempted to play a large role in Clinton's early months, sending her detailed memos on various parts of the world and apparently acting as liaison between the U.S. secretary of state and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Reuters reports. From other emails we learn that she calls Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) "DiFi," advised John Podesta to wear socks to bed, asked an aide about a pattern of carpet she saw in China (subject line: "Don't laugh!"), mocked her former campaign adviser Mark Penn, and was friendly with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who, The Associated Press reminds us, " is now running for president, primarily on a foreign policy platform focused heavily on attacking Clinton's credentials."

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Thanks to a judge's orders, we will be getting a new batch of Clinton emails every 30 days until January 2016.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.