Posted on 06/05/2015 8:20:04 PM PDT by Second Amendment First
A key ally of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify before the House Select Committee on Benghazi this month.
The Benghazi panel announced Friday that Sidney Blumenthal will appear before the committee on June 16 to answer questions about memos he drafted on Libya when Clinton ran the State Department.
The interview will be closed to the public.
This appearance before the Select Committee on Benghazi involves a witness deposition, which is typically done in private, according to an advisory from the committee. The session will be closed to the media.
Blumenthal came to the attention of Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), the chairman of the Benghazi panel, after the committee was given thousands of pages of documents from Clintons tenure that showed Blumenthal and the secretary traded frequent emails on the security and diplomatic environments in Libya before and after the Sept. 11, 2012 attacks.
Blumenthal an adviser to former President Bill Clinton was not employed at the State Department when he drafted the Libya memos. But he was being paid by the Clinton Foundation at the time.
Hillary Clinton had wanted to bring Blumenthal aboard at the State Department when President Barack Obama tapped her as secretary, but his nomination was blocked because Obamas advisers distrusted the longtime Clinton confidante.
Instead, Bill Clinton helped secure Blumenthal a $10,000-a-month job at the Clinton Foundation. Blumenthal also had a number of business interests in Libya and he advised companies seeking contracts in the country.
Those connections have caused Republicans to question the independence of the advice he provided Clinton as Libya was wracked by violence in 2012.
Emails released by the State Department last month showed that Blumenthal was a prolific correspondent with Clinton. The two traded emails on Libya as well as on more informal matters like dinner invitations.
Many of Blumenthals emails were based on unnamed sources he claimed were deeply involved in the Libyan and European governments. His analysis of Libya was often met with skepticism by senior State Department staff when Clinton forwarded them to aides like Jake Sullivan.
Gowdy has said he wants to interview Blumenthal to better understand how seriously Clintons State Department took his advice.
Gowdy: M...
Sid Viscous: I have nothing to say to you imperialist pigs so lets just end this now.
Gowdy: OK....
Sid will not testify. He will lie. Ditto Hillary.
He will at most, mock. He does not consider Gowdy worth lying to. He has a point.
closed to the public. these people work for us. screw them all.
if it is not under oath, it is useless. will it be under oath?
Want on or off this ping list of 50+ (and growing) FReepers? Just drop me a FReep mail.
Nothing to see, here, peons. Move along!
Well of course. The GOP does not want their complicit humiliation shown. It’s a lesser evil.
We should vote for more gutless cowards to lead us. No matter what.
Sid will do exactly what he has done in the past. He will stonewall the Committee behind closed doors then walk out and lie thru his teeth to the Cameras.
I think it was the Monica/Ken Starr investigation where he did that.
No doubt. but rest assured the GOP will cover for him. Thats what pressure relief valves do.
Sid Vicious remembers nothing. But he’ll bring a twelve pack and share it with Trey while they watch the clock and discuss investment strategies.
It’s bad enough the brain dead freeloaders in this country want Slick Willie’s wife as president but if she wins, this moron wins too.
I remain unimpressed.
this guy will swear on every religious document ever written and then proceed to lie his butt off. He needs to be investigated, his phones and computers seized and everyone he knows questioned. Asking him questions is speaking to a pile of turds and expecting them to recite the theory or relativity.
Interview????
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