The House committee investigating the fatal attacks on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, formally asked Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday to appear before lawmakers for a closed-door interview to answer questions about her use of a private email account while she was secretary of state.
Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, sent a letter asking that Clinton, who was in office at the time of the 2012 attacks, sit for a “transcribed interview regarding her use of private email and a personal server for official State Department business” by May 1.
“The committee believes a transcribed interview would best protect Secretary of State Clinton’s privacy, the security of the information queried and the public’s interest in ensuring this committee has all information needed to accomplish the task set before it,” Gowdy wrote to Clinton attorney David Kendall.
Clinton, through a spokesman, said she had told the committee months ago “that she was ready to appear at a public hearing.”
“It is by their choice that hasn’t happened,” Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill said. “To be clear, she remains ready to appear at a hearing open to the American public.”
Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the committee, blasted Gowdy’s request as a political stunt, saying that “rather than drag out this political charade into 2016 and selectively leak portions of a closed-door interview, the committee should schedule a public hearing, make her records public and refocus its efforts on the attacks in Benghazi.”
However, one Democratic member of the committee said she thought Clinton should testify to the panel.
“I think all of her official emails in the State Department should be released,” said Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., who recently announced that she will seek the Senate seat currently held by Republican Mark Kirk. “Transparency is the best policy. There are going to be some that are classified. Those that are classified, then show those to a bipartisan group of members of Congress.”
Clinton has said she didn’t transmit any classified information via her private account.
At the White House, press secretary Josh Earnest said that if “Clinton, in her capacity as a private citizen, decides that she wants to once again go above and beyond in terms of trying to provide (the committee) information and access, then that will be a decision for her to make.”
Clinton, 67, is the presumed front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. She continues to be dogged by ethical questions about her family foundation’s acceptance of foreign donations, as well as her use of a private email account to conduct government business while she led the State Department from 2009 to 2013.
Gowdy’s request followed a report Tuesday that Clinton had used an iPad in addition to a BlackBerry for email while at the State Department, despite her assertions that she had used a personal email address and a home server so she could carry only one device.
On Friday, Clinton’s attorney told the committee that she had permanently deleted all emails from the private server, apparently after she was first asked by the State Department to turn them over.
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