WASHINGTON — After months of refusing, former Secretary of State and current presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has reportedly agreed to testify before the Select Committee to Investigate the Benghazi terror attacks.
Clinton’s attorney David Kendall wrote to members of Congress Monday to inform them that she would appear before the Select Committee only once, instead of the two times requested.
“Respectfully, there is no basis, logic, or precedent for such an unusual request,” Kendall wrote, adding “The secretary is fully prepared to stay for the duration of the committee’s questions on the day she appears.”
Select Committee chair Trey Gowdy had requested Clinton appear once to testify on the attacks themselves, as well as a second time to answer questions about the emails missing from her personal server.
Kendall told lawmakers Clinton would answer all of their questions in one session.
“The committee has consistently shown it is interested in getting the facts and doing so in a deliberate and diligent manner,” said Select Committee spokesman Jamal Ware in a statement. “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.”
Alabama Congresswoman Martha Roby (R-AL2) sits on the Select Committee, and will likely have an opportunity to question Clinton.
“It doesn’t surprise me that the Clinton lawyers want to limit her testimony,” Rep. Roby told Yellowhammer Tuesday morning. “But, remember, it was her decision, not ours, to set up a secret email system in a calculated attempt to flout government transparency requirements. And there are many legitimate questions that remain unanswered.
“I know that Chairman Gowdy is taking this offer into consideration and we will see what happens going forward. Chairman Gowdy has been a deliberate, effective leader of this Select Committee and we are behind him 100 percent.”
The former First Lady has taken a hit in the polls in recent weeks along her quest to return to the White House, with her unfavorables rising 6 points in the last month alone.
According to a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, Clinton’s Onumbers on “having high personal standards,” “being compassionate,” and “being honest and straightforward,” have all fallen over the last year.
So far, Clinton only has one official competitor for the Democratic presidential nomination, avowed Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT).
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— Elizabeth BeShears (@LizEBeesh) January 21, 2015
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