OVERNIGHT DEFENSE: Clinton only plans to testify once before Benghazi panel

by Martin Matishak and Kristina Wong - 05/04/15 6:18 PM ET

THE TOPLINE: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is refusing to appear twice before the House Select Committee on Benghazi.

“Respectfully, there is no basis, logic, or precedent for such an unusual request,” David Kendall, Clinton’s attorney, said Monday in a letter to panel Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.).

“The secretary is fully prepared to stay for the duration of the committee’s questions on the day she appears,” he added.

{mosads}In an April 23 letter to Kendall, Gowdy asked that the 2016 presidential contender testify before the committee first during the week of May 18. This appearance was to examine her use of a personal email server while acting as the nation’s top diplomat.

The letter also asked Clinton to appear before the panel a second time, in June, so that the committee could look at Clinton’s role in the deadly attack that left four Americans dead.

Kendall dismissed Gowdy’s arguments for a hearing on Clinton’s use of a personal email, saying the GOP lawmaker “can be assured that the State Department has a complete set of the emails that were in Secretary Clinton’s possession related or potentially related to her work as Secretary of State.”

He said Clinton “remains ready to address whatever additional questions the committee may have, and believes that the members of the committee are able to decide how much they will focus on the tragic deaths of four Americans in Benghazi, including what can be done to keep those who serve our country safe — and how much they will focus on how she emailed.”

A panel spokesman said the select committee would take Kendall’s letter “into consideration” and that Gowdy would “issue a statement on behalf of the Committee regarding the path forward.”

MCCONNELL’S TOUGH IRAN DECISION: The Hill’s Jordain Carney reports: Democrats are pressuring Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to cut off debate on legislation that would allow lawmakers to review a final Iran nuclear deal.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Monday said it’s time for McConnell to file for cloture on the bill and shelve the dozens of pending amendments, including one that would link the nuclear deal to Iran’s recognition of Israel, as.

“The majority leader should file cloture now to preserve this legislation. Destructive members within his own party have forced his hand,” Reid said. “I support the majority leader in taking this step because it’s the only path forward.”

The future of the Iran bill was thrown in doubt late last week when Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who is running for president, used a procedural tactic to force a vote on requiring Iran to publicly support Israel’s right to exist.

Democrats and the White House have warned the amendment could derail the underlying legislation, which was the byproduct of negotiations between Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) on the Foreign Relations Committee.

Rubio and Cotton’s move has essentially left McConnell with three options: schedule a vote on the Israel amendment, file cloture on the legislation and prevent votes on dozens of Republican amendments, or try and negotiate some other solution with Rubio and Cotton.

While McConnell’s office has remained tight-lipped about what the Kentucky Republican will do, a Senate aide told The Hill that cloture could be filled as early as this week.

GILLIBRAND ISSUES MILITARY SEXUAL ASSAULT REPORT: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) on Monday said a new report that finds “alarming rates” of military sexual assaults shows the problem might be much worse than the Pentagon is reporting.

A review of 107 case files she obtained from the Pentagon shows 53 percent of victims are civilians or military spouses — two groups not routinely counted in Department of Defense surveys, Gillibrand said.

“What we’ve found are alarming rates of assault among two survivor groups not routinely counted in DOD surveys, survivors declining to move forward with their cases and very low conviction rates,” she said in a statement.

Gillibrand, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the data raise new questions about how big the problem is within the military, noting that the Pentagon’s estimate for 2014 includes 20,000 cases of sexual assault and unwanted sexual contact.

The data showed that civilians filed reports against service members in 32 percent of the 107 cases reviewed, while military spouses filed reports in 21 percent of the cases.

“Given that these survivor groups are overlooked in prevalence survey data, the total survivor population may be far larger than the most recent estimate of 20,000 cases of sexual assault or unwanted sexual contact in FY 2014,” the statement said.

“Even with the much-lauded reforms, the system remains plagued with distrust and simply does not provide the fair and just process that survivors deserve,” said Gillibrand, who has championed reform of the way the Pentagon deals with sexual assault within its ranks.

HOUSE VA LEADER LOSING PATIENCE WITH AGENCY CHIEF: House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) is growing weary of Secretary Robert McDonald.

“This Committee exposed the Department’s delays-in-care scandal at an April 9, 2014, congressional hearing, setting in motion a sequence of events that essentially forced the resignation of your predecessor and led to you becoming Secretary,” Miller wrote in an April 30 letter, referring to former VA chief Eric Shinseki, who resigned over the controversy.

He sent the missive to McDonald after the former Procter & Gamble CEO delivered a letter of his own as the House panel was weighing a subpoena for records from the VA’s Philadelphia regional office.

In his letter, he told Miller he was “confused by the need for a subpoena given that on multiple occasions, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has offered to make available the full, unredacted information you sought.”

The House committee on Thursday voted without objection to issue the subpoena.

The vote took place a day after the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee issued a subpoena for documents related to an investigation into a VA hospital in Tomah, Wis.

Miller placed the blame squarely on McDonald’s shoulders.

“Contrary to the assertions in your letter, it is the VA’s actions to stonewall this Committee — actions that began long before your tenure as Secretary, and continue to occur today — which has eroded the confidence of Veterans and the American people in our ability to work together,” he wrote.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

— State: US trying to get Marshall Islands ship back from Iran

— Bill would up protections for military whistleblowers

— Kerry to visit Saudi Arabia amid regional unrest

— GOP lawmaker: Congress may nix plan to arm Kurds

— Winners, losers in $612B defense bill

Please send tips and comments to Kristina Wong, kwong@digital-staging.thehill.com, and Martin Matishak, mmatishak@digital-staging.thehill.com.