Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), the chair of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, on Sunday said that the panel’s questioning of Hillary Clinton may have been more productive in private.
During an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” host Chuck Todd asked Gowdy about his comment last week on Fox News that a private interview with Clinton may have gone better.
“It was a voluntary interview, and she wanted it to be in public. I wrote a letter several months ago giving her an option. And she chose public. And that’s well within her right,” Gowdy said in response.
“I can just tell you that of the 50-some odd interviews we have done thus far, the vast majority of them have been private. And you don’t see the bickering among the members of Congress in private interviews,” he continued.
Gowdy said that the next several interviews by the committee will be done behind closed doors, saying, “The private ones always produce better results.”
The Benghazi committee chair said that while Clinton was cooperative during the hearing, he does not believe all of her answers were “accurate.”
When asked what he learned from the hearing, Gowdy said the committee uncovered “new information” and “clarifying information.” He then said that he believes Clinton should have personally reviewed security policies.
Todd also asked Gowdy why the committee asked so many questions about longtime Clinton ally Sidney Blumenthal, who sent Clinton several emails about Libya during her time as secretary of state.
“These are all about Libya and Benghazi,” Gowdy said of Blumenthal’s emails. “And to the extent that he was one of the more prolific emailers to her on the subject matter, how do you not ask? How does this person who has no formal role in government and no expertise in Libya or Benghazi, how does he have unfettered access to you, but the ambassador, there is not a single email to or from him?”
