Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., said Huma Abedin was “very cooperative” during a closed-door interview with the House Select Committee on Benghazi Friday.
Pompeo, who was one of only two Republican members to attend the interview, told reporters outside the interview that Abedin, a former State Department aide to Hillary Clinton, had “done her best to answer our questions.
“This time was very productive,” Pompeo said. “I hope it was for her. I know it was for our committee.”
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Pompeo dismissed questions about whether Abedin, who is now vice chair of Clinton’s presidential campaign, struggled to recall certain details about the Benghazi attack.
“We are all subject to only the capacity to hold thoughts in our own mind,” the Kansas Republican said.
Pompeo was unable to provide a timeline of when the panel might wrap up its investigation, blaming the ambiguity on the State Department’s refusal to provide requested documents.
“We’ve had a heck of a time getting documents from the State Department,” he said.
“We would be much farther along if the State Department had not stonewalled us for months and months on end.”
The Benghazi committee has come under fire in recent weeks in the wake of controversial comments from House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy in which he suggested one of the panel’s top accomplishments was weakening Clinton’s poll numbers.
Pompeo said the investigation has become “no harder” and “no easier” since the controversy.
He declined to comment on the types of questions Abedin was asked during the interview Friday beyond affirming that they hewed closely to the “mission” of the committee.
Chairman Trey Gowdy did not appear at the deposition Friday morning. His spokesman told the Washington Examiner Gowdy does not attend every interview but that he prepared his staff for the meeting beforehand.
