Benghazi Committee Informs State Department of Intent to Add to Public Record with Release of New Clinton Emails

Washington, D.C.—The Select Committee on Benghazi today informed the State Department it intends to further add to the public record by releasing new messages from Secretary Clinton related to Libya and Benghazi. The messages delivered to the Committee—which the State Department had withheld for nearly a year—make manifest Sidney Blumenthal was pursuing business interests in Libya and that Secretary Clinton, at least in one instance, was promoting them.

“These messages should have been made public when the State Department released Secretary Clinton’s other self-selected records on Libya and Benghazi, but there was a clear decision at the time to withhold this information from the American people and the Committee,” said Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy. “The State Department has now made these messages available, and the Committee intends to question Secretary Clinton about them during her appearance.”

The emails between Clinton and Blumenthal show that he was Clinton’s most prolific emailer on Libya and Benghazi, with messages from him constituting nearly half of the pages uncovered by the Committee. Blumenthal's emails also criticize the Administration, particularly President Obama, Defense Secretary Gates and National Security Advisor Donilon, for its policy toward Libya. The messages show Blumenthal actively promoting U.S. military engagement in Libya and in one case passing along the name of an alleged CIA source (the Committee redacted this name).

They also show him promoting the services of a company run by one of his associates called Osprey Global Solutions to provide training for Libyan rebels and urging Clinton to ensure the transitional government showed the same preferential treatment to U.S. businesses, such as Osprey, as they had pledged to French businesses.

“It is curious Secretary Clinton took so much of her advice from someone who had never been to Libya, professed no independent knowledge of the country and who the White House blocked her from hiring,” said Gowdy. “Any one of those should have been a red flag, but instead, she continued to solicit Blumenthal for advice.”

Chairman Gowdy went on to add the new messages revealed the wisdom of the Committee in not releasing the transcript from Mr. Blumenthal’s appearance before the Committee because of the possibility of new investigatory information being discovered. Gowdy said the same should hold for the release of Cheryl Mills’ transcript because the Committee is still waiting on the State Department to deliver all requested emails from Mills.

Chairman Gowdy sent a letter to Ranking Member Cummings where he laid out the new Clinton emails the Committee intends to release and ask questions about. A Memorandum of Understanding between the State Department and the Committee requires the Committee to give five days’ notice before releasing certain documents publicly. The announcement today means the messages will be available for Members to use in the upcoming testimony given by Secretary Clinton.  

You can read the full letter online here:

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