Benghazi chairman threatens to force Kerry to testify

House Republicans might soon seek to compel Secretary of State John Kerry to testify in their ongoing investigation of the 2012 attack on a United States diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that he might need to bring in Kerry if State Department officials continue what he described as a pattern of withholding documents important to the probe.

{mosads}Gowdy said he’s spoken Jon Finer, Kerry’s chief of staff, about State’s “total recalcitrance at allowing Congress to investigate,” including its refusal to provide emails from nine of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 10 senior aides. Gowdy is calling Finer to testify.

“I’ve tried to do this the right way, not with theater, not with theatrics, I’m trying to do it without the drama, just the documents. But that is not proven to be successful,” Gowdy told host John Dickerson.

“If I don’t get satisfaction from that public interaction with his chief of staff, the next person to come explain to Congress why he has been so recalcitrant in turning over documents will be the secretary himself,” Gowdy continued.

Democrats on the special Benghazi committee have accused Gowdy and his colleagues of conducting the investigation too slowly, in an attempt to draw out Clinton’s testimony for political purposes. Clinton has said she’ll testify whenever the panel is ready.

Gowdy put the blame squarely on State, accusing the agency of holding up the process by not providing what he has requested.

“I am happy to conclude this investigation just as soon as John Kerry decides that he is going to give us the documents that we are entitled to,” Gowdy said.

In advance of Gowdy’s appearance, John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman, accused the GOP of politicizing the Benghazi attacks.

“Trey Gowdy and the Republicans are clinging to their invented scandal, one that’s on life-support,” Podesta said.

“If Rep. Gowdy is going to continue his taxpayer-funded campaign, he needs to explain himself. He needs to explain what wasn’t satisfactory about 7 previous Congressional investigations, the independent and exhaustive findings of the Accountability Review Board, and the conclusions of his Republican counterparts on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and on the House Armed Services Committee, both of which found no wrongdoing,” he continued.