The House Select Committee on Benghazi has called former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to testify, requesting an initial appearance “to answer questions regarding the completeness of her public record” and a subsequent hearing “to answer questions on the substance of the Benghazi terrorist attacks.”
“With her cooperation and that of the State Department and administration, Secretary Clinton could be done with the Benghazi Committee before the Fourth of July,” Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said in a statement. “It is necessary to call Secretary Clinton twice because the committee needs to ensure we have a complete and responsive record and all the facts before we then substantively question her on the Benghazi terrorist attacks.”
“From there, as I have said countless times before, the committee investigation will go wherever the facts may lead,” he added. “I have made no presumption of right or wrongdoing on anyone’s part with respects to the Benghazi terrorist attacks.”
The letter to Clinton’s attorney, David Kendall, asks that she appear before the committee “as soon as is practicable” and includes a list of sample questions the committee may ask.
Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) protested in a statement today that “the Republicans’ multi-year search for evidence to back up their Benghazi conspiracy theories has turned up nothing.”
“The Select Committee has identified no evidence—documentary, testimonial, or otherwise—to support claims that Secretary Clinton ordered a stand-down, approved an illicit weapons program, or any other wild allegation Republicans have made for years,” Cummings said. “Instead, this appears to be a coordinated attempt by Republicans to drag out this taxpayer-funded search for anything they can use against Hillary Clinton, while their political arm raises campaign funds off the deaths of four Americans.”
Yesterday, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta lashed out at Gowdy and the committee following news that the final report on Benghazi may not come out until 2016. Podesta charged that “sadly, Republicans are determined to continue to exploit this tragedy in an effort to try and hurt her campaign.”
Gowdy said on Fox last night that Democrats shouldn’t “make that assumption” that the report will be damaging.
“We’re still in the process of gathering facts. If the report is not critical of her, then she would probably want it to come out closer to the election. But it’s not going to come out in the middle of 2016. I hope it doesn’t come out in 2016, period. I hope we are done before the end of this year. And I say hope because there are certain variables that I cannot control,” he said.
“It is simple. It is whether or not the Department of State, the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense will honor our request for documents. Some of those requests are as old as two years old.”
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