Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, denied a request for a public hearing from a top former aide to Hillary Clinton who appeared before lawmakers Thursday morning.
“She is no different than any other witness,” the South Carolina Republican said of Cheryl Mills, Clinton’s former chief of staff. “We have not had a public interview with any other witness.”
Gowdy said there are many reasons for collecting witness testimonies behind closed doors, but noted the main one was that “if you’re serious about getting information, you’re going to do it in a transcribed session.”
Mills will be forced to answer questions about the administration’s explanations of the Benghazi attack in the fall of 2012, as well as the State Department’s subsequent internal review of the security situation.
The committee is also expected to ask questions about the private email server Clinton used to shield her official communications.
Jake Sullivan, another top Clinton aide, will submit to an interview before the committee Friday morning. He will confront many of the same questions as Mills.
A third aide, Huma Abedin, will also appear before the committee some time this year. However, her reluctance to turn over her own private emails to the State Department and the committee has slowed plans to interview her.
The last high-profile Clinton confidante to come before the select committee was Sidney Blumenthal, an informal adviser to the secretary.
Republicans and Democrats on the committee clashed over whether to release the transcript of Blumenthal’s testimony, with the minority calling for the transcript to be made public and the majority refusing to make an exception for Blumenthal.
