Spartan Echo

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican chairman of a House panel investigating the deadly attacks in Benghazi, Libya, complained Tuesday, June 16, about delays in receiving emails between Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton and a longtime confidant.

But committee Democrats countered that delay was understandable after the committee expanded its scope from a probe of the September 2012 attacks that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador, to a broader examination of U.S. policy toward Libya.

“I will leave it to you to figure out whether there was a failure to produce on the former secretary’s part or a failure to produce on the Department of State’s behalf,” Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., told reporters Tuesday, June 16. “But clearly the committee should have gotten this information sooner.”

Democrats said Gowdy, the chairman of the Benghazi panel, has recently begun seeking emails and other documents that go far beyond Benghazi or the terrorist attacks. They cite a May 29 letter Gowdy sent to Sidney Blumenthal, a longtime Clinton adviser and friend who testified for several hours in closed session Tuesday.

The letter seeks “any and all documents and communications” sent to or received by Blumenthal related to Libya, “but not limited to Benghazi and Tripoli.” The letter also asks for information on weapons found in, imported to or removed from Libya. Gowdy made similar, broad requests in a March subpoena issued to the State Department.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Gowdy and other Republicans were continuing to “move the goalposts in terms of what they’re asking for from the State Department.”

A member of the Benghazi panel, Schiff said the shift in tactics was occurring “out of frustration (by Republicans) that they weren’t able to find anything of any interest on Benghazi — that is, anything that hadn’t already been disclosed by the eight other investigations” conducted over the past several years.

Blumenthal was pressed for answers about frequent emails on Libya that he sent Clinton when she served as secretary of state. Blumenthal worked in the White House under President Bill Clinton and is a longtime friend and adviser to the Clinton family.

Emerging for a break after about 45 minutes of closed-door testimony, Blumenthal told reporters that the tone of the questioning was “civil.”

The committee announced Monday night that it had received roughly 60 new emails totaling 120 pages from Blumenthal. The emails are between Clinton and Blumenthal and were not previously produced to the committee or released to the public, a committee spokeswoman said.

Blumenthal’s role in sending the near-monthly missives emerged when nearly 350 pages of emails about the 2012 attacks on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi were publicly released last month.

His testimony comes days after Clinton formally kicked off her presidential campaign on Saturday.

State Department spokesman Alec Gerlach said the department has worked to make public all emails received from Clinton.

“We provided the committee with a subset of documents that matched its request and will continue to work with them going forward,” Gerlach said. “Secretary (John) Kerry has been clear that the State Department will be both transparent and thorough in its obligations to the public on this matter.”

Blumenthal offered a flood of advice and intelligence to his former boss, sending frequent emails about the growing unrest in Libya to the personal email account Clinton continued to use as a government employee. The correspondence, which covered everything from warring Middle Eastern factions to political strategy, was absorbed by Clinton, who often forwarded the messages to aides.

Clinton’s earlier efforts to hire Blumenthal, who has spent nearly two decades working for the Clinton family, as a State Department employee were rejected by White House aides. Those aides feared that Blumenthal’s role spreading harsh attacks against Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential primaries would cause discomfort within the Obama administration.

Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., a member of the Benghazi panel, said there were “not a lot of sparks” produced by Blumenthal’s testimony Tuesday.

Asked whether there was a “smoking gun” in the testimony, Gowdy said no. “It’s not a gun case. Why would there be a smoking gun?” he said.

Gowdy said the new emails from Blumenthal were “eerily similar” to ones the committee already received.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the senior Democrat on the panel, said Blumenthal’s deposition was the latest example of how the committee “has strayed far from investigating the Benghazi attacks and is now focused like a laser on attacking Secretary Clinton in her run for president.”

Republicans no longer appear interested in discovering facts about Benghazi, but merely are trying to prove that Clinton “engaged in some sort of conspiracy” over the attacks, Cummings said, calling the investigation a “travesty” that has cost taxpayers more than $3.5 million.