The South Carolina prosecutor looked straight at the camera, relishing his role on an episode of the show “Forensic Files” as he discussed fingerprints, DNA testing and other evidence pointing to a murder suspect.
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“Frankly, I think waiting doesn’t make it easier”, said Messer, chairman of the Republican Policy Committee. “Unless you have something you want to hide”.
Gowdy said the investigation has taken on new importance after recently receiving the ambassador’s emails, which previous inquiries never “bothered to access”. At stake: his own reputation and the perhaps the political fate of a potential future president of the United States.
According to Gowdy, instead of addressing his security concerns, Clinton aide Jake Sullivan asked Stevens to read and respond to an email from longtime Clinton henchman Sidney Blumenthal. And Clinton won’t be the only one on the hot seat.
While Gowdy will be at the center of the political drama, his background is in court.
But it’s going to be less a showdown than a show trial.
But Gowdy says the specifics of his rebuttals don’t matter; he feels he “just can’t win”.
Will Trey Gowdy restore credibility in the committee and arrive at a few level of consensus about what took place three years ago? Thoroughly investigated? Nope. All questions asked and answered?
PS: I am envious of your staff’s ability to get information from this administration in less than 45 minutes on a weekend. He was elected to Congress in 2006 after a competitive race with another committee member, Democrat Tammy Duckworth. Hillary Rodham Clinton, secretary of state when the attack happened and now a Democratic presidential candidate, will testify at the highly anticipated hearing on Capitol Hill.
The congressional review of Benghazi has now lasted longer than its examination of Watergate. Rep. Richard Hanna, R-N.Y., and Bradley Podliska, a former Republican staffer on the committee, also called the investigation politically motivated. “But the seven [Republican] members of my committee are much more focused on the four dead Americans than we are anyone’s presidential aspirations”.
Her campaign is releasing a video highlight reel from her State Department service Monday that includes endorsements and testimonials from Cabinet officials and others praising Clinton’s diplomatic work.
Gowdy insists that his investigation is focused on the events before, during and after the deadly attacks.
“After what Kevin McCarthy said, it’s hard to accept at least a part of it was not”, Hanna told a Utica radio station.
“Politics gets infused into it despite all of his attempts”. She cast herself as a tough negotiator, including with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and proudly said that her enemies included both “the Iranians”, and “the Republicans”.
Gowdy declined to be interviewed for this article.
He says he doesn’t know what new ground the panel can cover in interviewing Clinton.
Even while engaged in exhaustive preparations for Clinton’s testimony, Westmoreland stressed that “she is just a witness”. She was elected to Congress in 2012, becoming one of the first two female combat veterans to serve in the House. The committee questioned her senior aide, Huma Abedin, for six hours in a closed session on Friday.
Nearly a year and a half later, Cummings says Republicans have excluded Democrats from interviews with witnesses and moved at a deliberately slow pace.
Second, despite Clinton’s claims, “I did not email any classified material to anyone” and “There is no classified material”, it is now apparent that hundreds and perhaps thousands of her unsecured email communications contained significant classified content. Transmitting that content is a felony.
“It’s true that nobody in America is inspired by all this drama and palace intrigue”, Rep. Luke Messer, R-Indiana, said.
Gowdy noted how none of the Republicans talking were actually on the committee.
Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) could try to bring a “clean” bill to the House floor, however this week lawmakers are going to vote on legislation that would prioritize a half-measure bill Treasury could make, thereby, technically, avoiding a default. Clinton has since apologized and admitted making a bad decision.
Rep. Trey Gowdy has a tall order, and all the world is looking at him to salvage the damage done to his Republican Party. “I don’t know that I have very much to add”.
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“2016 will be his last election”, said Scott.
