House panel continues partisan probe into Benghazi
A special House committee on the 2012 Benghazi attacks has devolved from an investigation into the deaths of four Americans in Libya into a political fight over Hillary Rodham Clinton‘s emails and private computer server – a battle that is likely to stretch into the 2016 presidential election year. Republicans say Clinton has only herself and the department she once ran to blame for the shift in focus amid her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Clinton, who served as secretary of state in 2012 when militants attacked the U.S. mission in Benghazi, chose to use a private email server, rather than a government server – and later deleted thousands of emails she said were not related to her work. The State Department, meanwhile, has struggled to produce a trove of emails involving Clinton and some of her key staffers. The resulting impasse has prolonged the committee’s work, said Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., the chairman of the Benghazi panel. “The reason we are having a conversation about her email arrangement is because of her unusual email arrangement with herself, and not because of anything we’ve done on the Benghazi committee,” Gowdy, a former prosecutor, said in an interview. Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the committee’s ranking Democrat, said the panel has assumed a new purpose: “Derail Hillary Clinton’s presidential efforts by any means necessary.” “Anybody can now see that’s what it’s all about,” Cummings said in an interview. He’d like to see Clinton testify before the committee as soon as possible. There’s no such session scheduled, even though Clinton is expected on Capitol Hill Tuesday to meet with congressional Democrats. Her campaign, meanwhile, has posted a 3,600-word fact sheet on the candidate’s use of a private email server during her time at the State Department. The statement said Clinton’s use of a private email account was widely known at the State Department and that department policy during her tenure permitted her to use a non-government email for work. What’s undisputed is that the select committee’s work will continue into 2016, guaranteeing that Benghazi – and the deaths of four Americans, including U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens – will shadow Clinton during her second White House bid. Clinton herself may have provided a glimpse of that future when she declared during a CNN interview last week that she “never had a subpoena” compelling the production of emails sent while she was secretary of state. Gowdy pounced, releasing a subpoena he issued to Clinton in March to “correct the inaccuracy” of her claim. In fact, he had publicly announced delivery of the document at the time. He didn’t tell Clinton to go on TV, Gowdy said, “and I certainly didn’t tell her what to say. Had she not said what she said to the CNN reporter, you would not have seen my homely self on TV.” Cummings rose to Clinton’s defense, calling her statement “an honest mistake” and denouncing the GOP’s release of the subpoena as a “stunt” in an ongoing “taxpayer-funded attack” on the Democratic front-runner. Cummings and other Democrats voted against creating the panel last year, saying that at least eight previous investigations had disproved a variety of conspiracy theories about the attacks nearly three years ago. Notions that U.S. forces were ordered to “stand down” during the attacks or that Clinton played a direct role in security decisions are false, congressional investigators say. Gowdy maintains that the committee is not concerned about conspiracies, but intent on learning the full truth about the attacks. The focus on Clinton is because, “No. 1, she was secretary of state at all relevant times. That’s a pretty big fact,” he said. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the American people deserve to know what happened. “We still don’t have the answers because the (Obama) administration and Secretary Clinton refuse to turn over the relevant documents for the American people to see,” Boehner said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “We are not going to walk away from this,” Boehner said. “The State Department is rolling these emails that they do have over to us at a rate of about 4,000 a month. This is going to go on throughout the rest of this year.” Despite her claims to the contrary, Clinton has not been fully forthcoming about her emails and other important documents, Gowdy and other Republicans said. For instance, while Clinton has said she turned over “the entire public record” of her emails, “we know that is not accurate,” Gowdy said, citing at least 15 work-related emails from Clinton’s private server that the State Department says it cannot find. Republicans also are frustrated that the State Department has been slow to release emails sent by key Clinton staffers, including top aides such as Cheryl Mills, Jake Sullivan and Huma Abedin. While Democrats accuse Gowdy of stalling a planned interview with Clinton to ensure it happens closer to the 2016 election, Gowdy said any delay is the fault of the State Department, which has failed to produce emails the committee is seeking. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a member of the Benghazi committee, said the panel has become exactly what he and other Democrats feared it would be when it was created in May 2014: an ongoing, taxpayer-funded effort to diminish Clinton’s presidential campaign. “To whatever degree this was ever about Benghazi, those days are gone,” Schiff said, predicting that Republicans will spend the next six months or more “going after” Clinton. While that is to be expected from the Republican National Committee, Schiff said, “it’s not OK for a taxpayer-funded committee that is supposed to be finding the truth.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Alabama congressional delegation largely supportive of Benghazi Select Committee
In the wake of recent news that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has agreed to testify before a U.S. House Select Committee investigating the 2012 attacks on an American compound in Benghazi, some Republican members of Congress are licking their chops at the prospect of getting a good crack at the 2016 Democratic presidential frontrunner over an issue that remains on the front burner for conservatives. Among them is U.S. Rep. Martha Roby of Alabama’s Wiregrass and Montgomery-based 2nd Congressional District. Roby is one of seven Republican members chosen for the committee. “It doesn’t surprise me that the Clinton lawyers want to limit her testimony,” Roby told Alabama Today on Tuesday, responding to corollary news that Clinton has refused to testify twice as requested by the committee, conceding to only one hotly anticipated appearance. “But, remember, it was her decision, not ours, to set up a secret email system in a calculated attempt to flout government transparency requirements. And there are many legitimate questions that remain unanswered.” She expressed her enthusiasm that South Carolina U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy — who has been vocal in his criticisms of Clinton over Benghazi — may get to oversee a panel devoted to extracting answers from the former New York senator in light of her use of a private email address while serving on President Barack Obama‘s Cabinet. “I know that Chairman Gowdy is taking this offer into consideration and we will see what happens going forward. Chairman Gowdy has been a deliberate, effective leader of this Select Committee and we are behind him 100 percent,” Roby said. U.S. Reps. Bradley Byrne, Mike Rogers, Robert Aderholt and Mo Brooks — Republicans all — each voted “yea” and co-sponsored the federal legislation that created the committee. Democrat Terri Sewell, for her part, voted against it. Rep. Gary Palmer wasn’t yet elected when the House created the Select Committee. He did tell Birmingham talk radio host Matt Murphy in March he thinks “we should subpoena the server and see what’s on it.” Palmer also told the Birmingham Morning News, “I have zero confidence that this Justice Department will do anything under Obama [concerning Clinton’s emails].”
State official: Hillary Clinton’s email practices “not acceptable”
A high-ranking State Department official said Wednesday it’s “not acceptable” for any agency employee to conduct government business on a private email server as former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton did. Joyce Barr, the agency’s chief freedom of information officer, made the comment under questioning from Republican senators who used a Senate Judiciary hearing on open records laws to attack Clinton over her email practices. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said that Clinton’s approach amounted to a “premeditated and deliberate” attempt to avoid open records requirements. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said that anyone who took such an approach should be fired, and asked Barr whether it would be considered acceptable. Barr said that she had not been aware of Clinton’s decision to conduct all her State Department email on a private server but that the agency has now made it clear to employees that such an approach would not be acceptable. “I think that the actions that we’ve taken in the course of recovering these emails have made it very clear what people’s responsibilities are with regard to record-keeping,” she said. “We continue to do training, we’ve sent department notices, telegrams, we’ve talked to directors and I think the message is loud and clear that that is not acceptable.” Clinton, who is running for president, has defended using a personal email account while serving as secretary of state as a matter of personal convenience. She says she has turned over to the State Department all work-related emails — more than 30,000 of them — though House Republicans investigating the 2012 attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, are demanding more. They insist the server itself should be examined by a third party. A spokesman for Clinton’s campaign declined comment. Clinton has agreed to testify on Capitol Hill later this month at the request of the special committee investigating the Benghazi attacks. Barr acknowledged problems with the State Department’s overall performance responding to open records requests, calling an existing backlog of 18,000 requests “unacceptable.” But she insisted improvements were being made even as the number of requests keeps growing and the agency is understaffed. Like other government agencies, the State Department is bound by laws including the Freedom of Information Act that generally require them to maintain records and make them available to the public when asked, with some exceptions. Karen Kaiser, general counsel at The Associated Press, testified that despite promises of greater transparency by the Obama administration, most agencies are not abiding by their legal obligations under open records laws. “Non-responsiveness is the norm, and the reflex at most agencies is to withhold information, not to release it,” she told senators. Lawmakers are weighing legislation to improve the Freedom of Information Act, but Kaiser said agencies should also be made to comply with the laws already enacted. “We can have all the wonderful laws on the books and the presumptions of disclosure written in, but if the agencies don’t abide by the requirements we’re in a bad position,” she said. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Hillary Clinton agrees to testify on Benghazi, emails this month
Hillary Rodham Clinton is willing to testify once on Capitol Hill this month about the attacks in Benghazi, Libya, and her email practices during her tenure as secretary of state, her attorney told lawmakers in a letter Monday. Lawyer David Kendall said the Democratic presidential candidate will appear for only one session the week of May 18 or later, not twice as requested by Rep. Trey Gowdy, a South Carolina Republican and chairman of the special panel investigating the September 2012 attacks that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, at the U.S. outpost in Libya. Gowdy had requested one hearing to focus on Clinton’s use of private emails, and a separate session on Benghazi. Kendall said Clinton would answer all lawmakers’ questions during one session and it would not be necessary for her to appear twice. “Respectfully, there is no basis, logic or precedent for such an unusual request,” Kendall wrote. “The secretary is fully prepared to stay for the duration of the committee’s questions on the day she appears.” Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the top Democrat on the panel, released Kendall’s letter along with a statement saying the lawyer’s offer should more than satisfy the GOP’s demands. “Chairman Gowdy should take ‘yes’ for an answer and finally schedule the hearing,” Cummings wrote. “Dragging out this process further into the presidential election season sacrifices any chance that the American people will see it as serious or legitimate.” Spokesman Jamal Ware said Gowdy will consider her response and issue a statement later “regarding the path forward” for Clinton’s testimony. Clinton previously testified on Capitol Hill over the attacks in January 2013, when she was still secretary of state. She told lawmakers then that she takes responsibility for missteps by the State Department in the months leading up to the assault. But Clinton insisted that requests for more security at the diplomatic mission in Benghazi didn’t reach her desk, and reminded lawmakers that they have a responsibility to fund security-related budget requests. Republicans say they have more questions, especially in light of recent revelations that she used a private email account while secretary of state and decided which emails to retain and turn over to the government. Gowdy’s letter last month seeking two appearances included more than 100 questions he and other lawmakers may pose to Clinton about her email use, including why she considered using a private server and what was done to vet the companies or individuals who set up the server. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
