A House investigatory panel has summoned Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to testify at a May 18 public hearing about her use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state.
The panel, which is probing the September 2012 terrorist attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, has scheduled a second public hearing one month later, on June 18, to grill Clinton about Benghazi.
Both hearings are contingent upon Clinton providing “a complete record” about her role before, during and after the attacks, which killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
That may be a long shot.
The hearing dates are included in a letter sent by Benghazi Select Committee Chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., to Clinton lawyer David Kendall.
Gowdy said he “never intended” to send the message that Clinton could testify privately about Benghazi, but rather the panel would allow her to provide a transcribed interview with the panel only about her private email server.
Gowdy added if Clinton, the State Department and Obama administration cooperate, Clinton “could be done with the Benghazi Committee before the Fourth of July.”
Gowdy has been engaged in a struggle with Clinton over her private email account.
Clinton admitted to deleting 30,000 emails she deemed unrelated to her role as secretary of state.
Gowdy included in his letter to Kendall a list of sample questions he planned to ask Clinton, much of it concerning her decision to install and use a private email server for official State Department business.
Questions include asking Clinton how many email accounts she had and how many electronic devices she operated while serving as secretary of state.
Gowdy lists 136 questions. One of the last questions asks Clinton whether she took “any affirmative steps…to destroy or direct the destruction of any additional copies of stored communications that may exist on other electronic systems.”
