No classified material found in sample of Clinton's State emails, Times says

A first peek at some of the messages from Hillary Clinton's private email address during her days as secretary of State appears to back up her claim that she did not receive classified information through the private system, The New York Times reports Thursday.

The Times says it obtained about a third of the 850 pages of emails that the State Department is expected to release in the coming days.

The emails, which were gleaned from some 55,000 pages of Clinton messages, focused on LIbya and have been turned over to the special House committee investigating the 2012 attacks on the U.S. outposts in Benghazi.

The Times says some of the emails capture the correspondence and concerns of Clinton and her advisers during the September 2012 attacks, which left U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans dead.

The newspaper says the emails it has obtained appear to support Clinton's contention that she did not receive classified information through the private email system.

Some of the emails also discuss concerns over Stevens as security deteriorated in Libya in 2011. Some are marked "sensitive" or SBU (sensitive but unclassified.), The Times says.

Clinton acknowledged earlier this year that she used a private email system during her tenure as secretary of State and not a State Department system.

The State Department has said it is vetting and releasing the emails by January 2016. But a federal judge has rejected the plan, calling instead for a "rolling" release of the material.