A State Department spokesman told The Daily Beast that only emails related to the security of U.S. diplomats in Libya or the consulate in Benghazi were turned over to the House select committee investigating the deadly September 11, 2012 attack.
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A two-month gap in Hillary Clinton’s released private emails coincide with the escalating violence in Libya, as well as the hiring of close aide Huma Abedin, reports say.
Republicans on the House committee investigating the Benghazi attack have called the absence of any email communication noting the explosive attack at the U.S. consulate “inexplicable”.
The Republican opposition has harshly criticized Clinton’s handling of the crisis, especially the government’s initial statements attributing the attack to a crowd protesting a video that had made fun of the Prophet Mohammed. Her announcement to testify comes amidst a lot of back and forth within the committee, both sides are questioning how the other is aiding the investigation.
Clinton’s campaign confirmed to the Daily News that she’d agreed to the timing.
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton checks her Blackberry from a desk inside a C-17 military plane on the way to Tripoli, Libya, on October 18, 2011…
Yet the State Department has not produced any emails to or from Clinton about the improvised bomb. In 2013, the Associated Press filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the records of how she was able to obtain her special employment status.
“This was never about a hearing, but about getting the documents”.
The committee and its chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), have argued that because the emails on Clinton’s server might shed light on the events in Benghazi, Clinton’s use of a private email service is within the scope of their jurisdiction.
“If the State Department does not fulfill this production, or if production continues to be anemic and underwhelming, we will move forward with scheduling a compliance hearing before the committee”, Gowdy said, according to The Hill.
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Secretary of State John Kerry “wants to get to the bottom of this” and is “going to be discussing this with his inspector general this week”, Schultz said.
