Hillary agrees to testify before Congress — with a condition

Hillary Clinton has finally agreed to testify before the House Select Committee on Benghazi.

Today, Hillary’s attorney David Kendall informed Chairman Gowdy that Mrs. Clinton will testify before Congress, but only once.

In a letter released to the public on March 31, the committee officially requested Mrs. Clinton’s presence for questioning. Committee Chairman Gowdy requested two interviews, a “private transcribed interview related to her email arrangement as well as her public appearance before the Committee.”

In his response, Mrs. Clinton’s attorney David Kendall wrote there was, “no basis, logic, or precedent for such an usual request,” saying Mrs. Clinton would be, “prepared to stay for the duration of the Committee’s questions on the day she appears.”

Hillary is not willing to further disclose correspondence, nor is she willing to allow a neutral third-party to inspect her email server(s). She and her counsel maintain the State Department’s records should satisfy any queries the Select Committee might have. And so the record retention ball gets lobbed back into the Department of State’s court.

Also relevant here is the OIG report released shortly after the revelation that Hillary had her own special private email server. As we discussed back in March:

The report also concluded that State Department employees were intentionally avoiding creating official email records, “because they do not want to make the email available in searches or fear that this availability would inhibit debate about pending decisions.”

So going back to the State Department in the hopes of any further substantive records retrieval? May as well go on a snipe hunt.

Kendall offered the week of May 18th or a later date for Clinton’s catch all public appearance before the House Committee.

Rep. Gowdy has yet to accept of Clinton’s single appearance offer. According to the Washington Times:

Mr. Gowdy’s spokesman said they have the letter but didn’t say whether they will accede to Mrs. Clinton’s demand, saying only they will take it “into consideration.”“The committee has consistently shown it is interested in getting the facts and doing so in a deliberate and diligent manner,” said the spokesman, Jamal Ware. “As a result of the Benghazi Committee’s efforts, the American people now know about Secretary Clinton’s unusual email arrangement with herself, something that would not be known had the committee rushed to call the former secretary in November as committee Democrats pushed.”

Not specified is whether Mrs. Clinton will be under oath during the hearing. Rep. Gowdy and Speaker Boehner have indicated they would be willing to involve the entire House if necessary to obtain documentation and server access from Mrs. Clinton.

Meanwhile, on the eve the public release of ‘Clinton Cash,’ Peter Schweizer’s investigative tell-all about the Clinton Foundation, NBC just happens to be airing an ‘exclusive’ interview with President Clinton — the Slick Willie one, not the presumptive “what difference does it make?!” one.

In this totally coincidentally timed interview, Bill explains that he has no regrets about all the foreign cash they’ve taken. Not one.

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Tags: 2016 Democratic Primary, Benghazi, Hillary Clinton, Trey Gowdy

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