The chairman of the House panel investigating the 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, wants Hillary Clinton to testify “at least twice,” citing comments she made at her Tuesday news conference about her use of a private email account while secretary of State.
Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said in a statement following Clinton’s Tuesday press conference at the United Nations that she had “created more questions than answers.”
The first appearance “will be to clear up her role and resolve issues surrounding her exclusive use of personal email to conduct official business,” according to Gowdy. “This is necessary to establish our Committee has a complete record with respect to Secretary Clinton’s time in office.”
{mosads}The select panel will then call her to appear again in a public hearing “to answer questions specifically regarding Libya and the Benghazi terrorist attacks that took the lives of our four brave fellow citizens,” he said.
Clinton defended her use of the private account while in President Obama’s Cabinet on the basis that it was a “convenience” that helped her avoid the use of two email devices.
“I have absolute confidence that anything that could be [in] any way connected to work is now in the possession of the State Department,” she said.
The press conference came after more than a week of controversy over her exclusive use of a personal email address while at State.
Gowdy said that there are “serious questions about the security of the system she employed from a national security standpoint, who authorized this exclusive use of personal email despite guidance to the contrary from both her State Department and the White House, who had access to the server from the time Secretary Clinton left office until the time — almost two years later — the State Department asked for these public records back, and who culled through the records to determine which were personal and which were public.”
Gowdy repeated his call for Clinton to turn her server over to a third-party arbiter.
“Without access to Secretary Clinton’s personal server, there is no way for the State Department to know it has acquired all documents that should be made public, and given State’s delay in disclosing the fact Secretary Clinton exclusively used personal email to conduct State business, there is no way to accept State’s or Secretary Clinton’s certification she has turned over all documents that rightfully belong to the American people,” he said.
Clinton, however, had appeared to shut the door on any possibility of turning over the server during her news conference. “The server will remain private,” she said.
Democrats on the panel applauded Clinton’s performance at the news conference.
“I am glad Secretary Clinton addressed this issue directly, and I hope the Benghazi Select Committee will return to its purpose of investigating the attacks in Benghazi instead of attempting to impact the 2016 presidential election,” ranking member Elijah Cummings (Md.) said in a statement.
“If Republicans still want additional assurances that all official government records have been produced, they can follow standard practice and ask this Secretary — and previous Secretaries — to sign certifications under oath,” he said.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said the State Department should prioritize Clinton’s 55,000 pages of emails by looking at those pertaining to Benghazi “so that they are released as soon as possible.”
“By publishing these emails we will put to rest many of the myths that have been propagated about the tragic events in Benghazi, and conclude an investigation that still has no clear scope or objective,” he said.
“After ten months, the GOP led committee still has no answer to the question — as it pertains to the Secretary’s emails or anything else — just what are we looking for?”
Separately, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), head of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, issued a statement that hinted his panel might hold hearings to determine whether Clinton violated the Federal Records Act.
“Secretary Clinton would certainly like this matter to go away because it would be the most convenient scenario for her. Today’s press conference does not bring closure to this matter,” he said in a statement.
The Oversight panel “has a long history of investigating violations of the Federal Records Act and we will continue looking into this matter to ensure that all records were properly preserved in accordance with the law,” according to Chaffetz.
Updated at 7:33 p.m.