Benghazi Committee Democrats will release interview transcript
House Democrats on Monday released excerpts of a closed-door interview lawmakers recently conducted with a former top Hillary Clinton aide regarding the 2012 attacks on a U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi.
In a letter to the chairman of the Select Committee on Benghazi, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-South Carolina, the Democrats said they need to "correct the public record" about the interview with Cheryl Mills.
While they only revealed portions of the nine-hour interview with Mills from Sept. 3, they said they planned to release the entire transcript.
"It has become obvious that the only way to adequately correct the public record is to release the complete transcript of the Committee's interview with Ms. Mills," they wrote to Gowdy.
Mills served as chief of staff to Clinton when she served as secretary of state.
The letter was signed by the panel's five Democrats: Reps. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland., Adam Smith, D-Washington, Adam Schiff, D-California, Linda Sanchez, D-California, and Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois.
Democrats said after the closed-door interview, GOP lawmakers began leaking inaccurate information about what Mills said just minutes after stating that her interview should remain classified.
They're giving both Gowdy and the State Department five days to decide which parts should not be disclosed to the public.
In response, Gowdy's communications director released a statement, claiming there are a "myriad of reasons" for keeping witness interviews confidential.
"By selectively leaking and spinning parts of Secretary Clinton's top aide Cheryl Mills' transcript, Democrats have shown their nakedly political motivation, willingness to violate the letter and spirit of House Rules, and their desire to defend Secretary Clinton without regard for the integrity of the investigation," Jamal Ware said.
Schiff has called for the panel to be shut down, calling it a partisan tool to attack Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Gowdy and Republicans say the committee has remained nonpartisan in its review of the 2012 terrorist attacks that left four Americans dead.
"Despite claims that the Committee would be run with integrity, Republicans have engaged in a series of selective leaks of inaccurate and incomplete information in an effort to attack Secretary Clinton with unsubstantiated or previously debunked allegations," the Democrats wrote.
This comes a week after House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California suggested on Fox News that the Benghazi investigation's purpose was to target Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.
"Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right?" McCarthy asked during the interview.
"But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she's untrustable. But no one would have known any of that had happened, had we not fought."
McCarthy is running for Speaker of the House to replace Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, next month. He has been challenged by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah and Rep. Daniel Webster, R-Florida.