Hillary Clinton could be subpoenaed for a second time by the House Select Committee on Benghazi, committee member Ohio Rep. [crscore]Jim Jordan[/crscore] said on Friday.
“If you made an agreement about her testifying once, and new material arrives that undermines the agreement, don’t you have the right to subpoena her again?” radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt asked Jordan during an interview.
“Heck, yeah, I think you do,” Jordan said, adding “and I think you should.”
Jordan and the 11 other Benghazi Committee member — seven Republicans and five Democrats — questioned Clinton for 11 hours on Thursday about the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi. While Democrats mostly gave Clinton a free pass during the marathon session, Republicans quizzed her about her response following the attacks, which left Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others dead. She was also asked about how she and the State Department handled requests for additional security in Libya before the terrorist onslaught.
Republicans also pressed Clinton about her peculiar home-brew email arrangement and her relationship with Sidney Blumenthal, a longtime friend who sent Clinton dozens of intelligence reports about Libya and other countries.
During Friday’s interview, Jordan noted that the Select Committee plans to conduct another 20 interviews with officials across various government agencies, including the Defense Department and intelligence community. The committee, led by South Carolina Rep. [crscore]Trey Gowdy[/crscore], also only recently received about 5,000 pages of Stevens’ emails.
Jordan indicated that it’s possible that any new information gleaned from those forthcoming interviews and Stevens’ emails could warrant the second subpoena for Clinton. He said that the terms of Thursday’s hearing were hammered out between the committee and Clinton’s attorneys.
The agreement was that Clinton “would come once, but it would be, you know, several rounds of questioning,” Jordan said.
Jordan did not address what would likely be massive blowback from Clinton supporters if a second subpoena becomes a reality. Democrats fought tooth and nail to derail the first hearing, accusing Republicans on the committee of engaging in a witch-hunt for political purposes.
Committee Republicans have already indicated that they may subpoena Blumenthal for a second time. He was interviewed behind closed doors in June. During that interview, he provided emails between him and Clinton. Those records included 15 emails that Clinton did not provide the State Department in December. That despite her insistence that she had turned over all of her work-related emails.
Blumenthal could be called again because of new information about his involvement in companies that sought business contracts in Libya following the fall of dictator Moammar Gaddafi in 2011. Blumenthal sent Clinton numerous intel reports pressing her to establish no-fly zones over Libya, to depose Gaddafi, and to push the business interests of Osprey Global Solutions, a North Carolina-based company for which Blumenthal consulted.
