The Republican chairman of the congressional committee investigating the attacks in Benghazi asked former Secretary of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Thursday to testify publicly next month about her practice of conducting official government business on a personal email server.
In a letter to Clinton’s lawyer, House Benghazi Select Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy asked Clinton to testify before his committee twice.
First, he wants her to answer questions next month about her email use and ensure the committee has all the emails and documents needed to question her about Benghazi.
Once he has all the relevant information, Gowdy wants Clinton to return to testify about the attacks on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi that killed four Americans.
“Asking members on either side of the aisle to elect between asking questions about the security of our facilities in Benghazi versus asking questions about the security of her personal server and whether any protected information was received or sent via email is an untenable choice,” Gowdy wrote.
Gowdy’s latest request came a day after Clinton refused to sit for a private, transcribed interview with the committee.
“There is no reason to delay her appearance or to have her testify in a private interview,” David Kendall, Clinton’s lawyer, wrote to Gowdy on Wednesday, adding that questions about Clinton’s email use “have already been publicly answered by Secretary Clinton.”
Gowdy disagreed, sending Kendall more than 100 questions the committee wants answered. Gowdy again offered to interview Clinton privately about the emails at a location of her choosing.
But Democrats are pushing for a public hearing. They argue that parts of the private, transcribed interview Gowdy requested could be selectively leaked without context and Clinton would not have a copy of the interview to rebut those claims.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, the committee’s top Democrat, told CNN in an interview on Thursday that bringing Clinton in to testify twice is “overkill.”
“She’s not going to say anything she hasn’t already said,” Cummings said. “She wants to come in and talk once. She’ll talk about the emails.”
On Wednesday Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta issued a blistering statement blaming Republicans for playing politics.
“Sadly, Republicans are determined to continue to exploit this tragedy in an effort to try and hurt her campaign,” Podesta said in a statement.