Rep. Elijah Cummings, top Democrat on the House Select Committee on Benghazi, called Chairman Trey Gowdy’s letter announcing the release of undisclosed Hillary Clinton emails a “desperate attempt to save face” Thursday.
“Clearly, Chairman Gowdy has had a terrible week,” the Maryland Democrat said. “His own Republican leader admitted on national television that the Select Committee is a taxpayer-funded political campaign to attack Secretary Clinton’s bid for president.”
Cummings was referring to comments by Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy that implied the Benghazi committee had actively worked toward weakening support for Clinton’s presidential campaign.
“Chairman Gowdy’s lengthy 13-page letter is a defensive and desperate attempt to save face, but it only proves that McCarthy’s statement is true — his new proposal to selectively release yet another subset of emails reveals his obsession with Secretary Clinton and no new information about the Benghazi attacks,” he said.
Gowdy released the letter Thursday amid Democratic calls to publish transcripts from closed-door interviews with key witnesses, something Gowdy has fought to prevent for months.
In it, he detailed findings from a new set of email correspondence between Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal, an informal adviser, that Gowdy said highlighted the potential need for Blumenthal to testify before the committee for a second time. The emails showed Blumenthal’s company, Osprey Global Solutions, had won a contract with the transitional council in Libya to train and organize rebel fighters, giving him a personal stake in the U.S. intervention he aggressively pushed on Clinton.
The records also show Blumenthal outed the identity of a CIA source to Clinton in a memo she then forwarded to State Department aides, raising further questions about her handling of sensitive information.
Cummings has dismissed questions about classified Clinton emails as being outside the scope of the Benghazi committee.
“It’s not my job to look at the classified information or all aspects of her email,” he said Wednesday during an appearance on “Morning Joe.” “My interest in her email is making sure the record as it relates is complete and full.”
Gowdy and Cummings have each accused the other of politicizing the work of the select committee.
Gowdy’s letter will not change Democratic plans to publish the transcript of an interview with Cheryl Mills, Clinton’s former chief of staff, at the beginning of next week.
