This story has been updated.
Hillary Clinton has agreed to testify publicly in October before the Republican-led congressional committee investigating the 2012 terror attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound n Benghazi, Libya, Clinton spokesperson Nick Merrill said Saturday.
The former secretary of state has said she wanted to testify before the House Select Committee on Benghazi months ago, but tussled with the committee’s GOP chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina.
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Clinton’s presidential campaign said she had agreed to testify on Oct. 22, but a spokesman for the Benghazi committee said a date has not yet been set. “Accordingly, once there is an agreement on the date and a better understanding of how, if at all, Secretary Clinton’s lawyer’s latest writing differs from previous ones, the Committee will announce said hearing date,” the committee’s communications director, Jamal Ware, said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the Democrats on the Benghazi committee said in a separate statement that “all we can confirm at this point is that the date was offered and accepted, not that the Republicans will stick to it.”
Gowdy insisted that Clinton give him further assurance she had turned over all emails related to Benghazi, while the parties also disagreed over the number of appearances Clinton would make and whether they would be public of private. Clinton’s staff insisted on a public hearing, out of fear Republicans would leak portions of a private conversation out of context.
The Democratic presidential candidate’s appearance before the committee will likely be tense and politically charged, and it’s sure to attract enormous media attention.
The committee’s investigation has expanded beyond the attack to Clinton’s controversial use of a private email account while she led the State Department.
On Friday, Clinton’s campaign was rocked by the latest allegation over her emails, but initial reports of a potential criminal investigation were quickly walked back. Instead, the Department of Justice said it received non-criminal referrals related to apparent classified information found in Clinton’s emails. The information was not marked as classified at the time it was sent.
Merrill called the initial report by The New York Times “false.” He reiterated that Clinton wants her emails released as quickly as possible, suggesting that “bureaucratic infighting” between the State Department and the intelligence community might slow the release.
Alex Seitz-Wald