The chairman of a panel investigating the Benghazi terrorist attack said Hillary Clinton should turn over a private server she used to store emails during her tenure as secretary of state.
Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., told “Fox News Sunday” he’ll summon Clinton to talk to the committee about the emails as part of the probe into the department’s response to the Sept. 11, 2012, attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.
Gowdy can’t subpoena the server, but the House of Representatives does have the power to demand it and could be “forced to go to court” to get it.
Gowdy said he’s rather see Clinton agree to a third-party review of the emails.
“I think an eminently reasonable alternative is for her to turn over that server to an independent, neutral party,” Gowdy said.
Clinton last week said she turned over about 30,000 emails but did not save an additional 30,000 emails that were deemed personal.
“Who gets to decide what is personal and what is public?” Gowdy argued on Fox. “I just can’t trust her lawyers to make the determination the public is getting everything it’s entitled to.”
Gowdy said Clinton could be pressured by public opinion to turn over the server.
“If the public believes it is reasonable for her to turn over that server .. to a neutral, detached arbiter, then she will be forced to do so,” Gowdy said. “Otherwise, the House may be forced to go to court to get access to that.”
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who also appeared on the show, called the inquiry into the Benghazi attack and controversy over Clinton’s emails part of a campaign to undermine the former first lady’s likely presidential campaign.
“What does this have to do with Benghazi?” Schiff, a member of the Benghazi panel, said, referring to the Clinton email server. “Absolutely nothing. This committee has long since departed being an investigation of Benghazi. It’s now a special investigation into Hillary Clinton.”
