HRC and HSC on Benghazi

CNN: Rep. Elijah Cummings Confirmed That Secretary Clinton “Agreed To Testify Before The Committee Investigating The 2012 Terrorist Attack” In December 2014. “Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has agreed to testify to the House's select committee investigating Benghazi, the panel's Democratic ranking member told CNN on Tuesday. Rep. Elijah Cummings said that Clinton agreed to testify before the committee investigating the 2012 terrorist attack in December after he contacted her months earlier.” [CNN, 1/27/15] Rep. Cummings: When Asked If She Would Testify In Front Of The House Select Committee On Benghazi, Secretary Clinton “Immediately Said She Would…She Did Not Hesitate For One Second.” “‘The chairman asked me back in September to inquire as to whether Secretary Clinton would testify,’ Cummings said. ‘She immediately said she would and that she wanted to come in December, but if December did not work, she would come in January. She said I'll do it, period. The fact is she was very clear. She did not hesitate for one second.’” [CNN, 1/27/15] June 2014: Secretary Clinton Said Of The House Select Committee On Benghazi, “Let’s See If It’s On The Level Or Not…I Don’t Want To Be Part Of Anything That In Any Way Politicizes Or Demeans The Sacrifice That We Saw Happen There.” “While touring the country selling her new memoir in June 2014, Clinton was asked whether she would be willing to testify before the House committee. ‘We'll see,’ she told NBC in an interview. ‘I'm not going to prejudge it.’ Clinton added that she took a lot of notes during the attack, but declined to say whether she would hand over the notes. ‘Let's see if it's on the level or not. I don't want to be part of anything that in any way politicizes or demeans the sacrifice that we saw happen there,’ Clinton said.” [CNN, 1/27/15] CNN: Rep. Gowdy “Is Only Prepared To Hear From Clinton 30 Days After Receiving ‘All The [State Department] Documents’ On The Attack, Including Notes And Emails From Clinton.” “Rep. Trey Gowdy, the chairman of the Benghazi committee, told reporters on Tuesday that he still intends to have Clinton testify as part of the investigation. ‘Every witness who has relevant information needs to be talked to,’ he said. But Gowdy is only prepared to hear from Clinton 30 days after receiving ‘all the [State Department] documents’ on the attack, including notes and emails from Clinton. ‘We intend to access all of the information necessary to do the job the House instructed us to do,’ Gowdy said in his opening statement at a committee meeting on Tuesday. ‘And we need to access that information now. Talking to only some of the witnesses will not work. Accessing only some of the documents will not work. If you want all of the truth, you need all of the information.’” [CNN, 1/27/15] CNN: Stop Hillary PAC “Delivered More Than 264,000 Signatures To The Committee In September 2014 Urging Gowdy” To Subpoena Secretary Clinton. “Republicans have been long urging Gowdy to call Clinton to testify. Stop Hillary PAC, an anti-Clinton group, delivered more than 264,000 signatures to the committee in September 2014 urging Gowdy ‘to subpoena Hillary in order to uncover the truth about Benghazi and subsequent cover up by the then Secretary of State and President Barack Obama.’” [CNN, 1/27/15] MSNBC: Senate Historian Don Ritchie Called Secretary Clinton’s Potential Testimony In Front Of A House Benghazi Committee As A Presidential Candidate A “Very Rare” Practice. “Hillary Clinton won’t be the first presumed presidential candidate to be dragged before a congressional committee if and when she testifies before the House Select Committee on Benghazi, but she won’t be far from it. ‘We’d put it in the rare, but not unprecedented category,’ Don Ritchie, the official historian of the Senate, told msnbc. Ritchie could find only a few instances of declared or likely presidential candidates testifying before congressional committees in American history. While there might be a few more examples, given the vagaries of declaring a run for the presidency, there’s no question the practice is ‘very rare,’ he said.” [MSNBC, 1/28/15]