Bingo! So much more productive of material you can leak out of context or paraphrase with a “hey, trust me! I can’t let you see it, but that’s really what it says! Have I ever steered you wrong, as far as you know?”
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Oh, Trey-Trey, don’t tease us. If you believe she perjured herself, just say so and deal with the slander lawsuit. Or better yet, charge her with perjury and let’s have a trial.
He may be planning to,If she wins the nomination. You know, in September and October of 2016. So she can’t campaign.
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Everyone here is pointing out the obvious - private inquisitions always work out well for the inquisitor. And few people ever want the picture of themselves being sworn-in.
But folks are missing something thus far in this Thread, Gowdy stated:
“These are all about Libya and Benghazi,” Gowdy said of Blumenthal’s emails. “And to the extent that he was one of the more prolific emailers to her on the subject matter, how do you not ask? How does this person who has no formal role in government and no expertise in Libya or Benghazi, how does he have unfettered access to you, but the ambassador, there is not a single email to or from him?”
Two things wrong with this:
1.) Nothing offered by Blumenthal could have been classified or enlightening to security (good or bad) in Benghazi. What he has to say about Libya and/or Benghazi is idle chitchat with his ‘old’ friend Hillary. And as long as Hillary did not respond to these emails, either confirming or denying details, she did nothing wrong either.
2.) Republicans like Gowdy keep asking folks to look at the shiny thing (emails to Blumenthal), but not the fact that Diplomats do not speak with any Secretary of States via email; Diplomats use a secured ‘cable system’. Moreover, Gowdy et. al. have not been able to show that Ambassador Stevens was thwarted in attempts to contact Hillary. This is a straw man argument.
This article reports Gowdy also stated:
When asked what he learned from the hearing, Gowdy said the committee uncovered “new information” and “clarifying information.” He then said that he believes Clinton should have personally reviewed security policies.
What little I watched of the hearings, even I witnessed Hillary speak to the fact that she let security experts handle the security procedures.
Lastly, Gowdy also commented:
The Benghazi committee chair said that while Clinton was cooperative during the hearing, he does not believe all of her answers were “accurate.”
He’s the darned prosecutor - his job is to point out those inaccuracies when questioning his witness. Making blanket statements after-the-fact only shows the self-serving nature of what the pubic considers to be a witch-hunt.
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100% correct.
Further, if Clinton opted for private, that in and of itself would have went something like: “We gave her an option and she didn’t want the public to see. As always, this administration is about a complete lack of transparency and she must have something to hide!”.
The only way to win with these assholes is to let them hang themselves with their own rope. Sorry you didn’t get your partisan soundbite, Gowdy. The Clinton campaign thanks you.
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The real question is, How do these people who has no expertise in Libya or Benghazi, how do they have an unfettered budget and 11 hours to badger any witness?
There were some real questions to ask, such as about the decision to put a temporary mission, which, therefore would have less security, fortification and personnel than a permanent mission, in Benghazi, which was an unstable situation. But, because the idiots on the Select Committee were too ignorant and stupid to even know where to look, none of those questions got asked.
And Hillary looked like a statesman in comparison.
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A private interview would have allowed him to selectively leak words strung together out of context. He and his band of select Republicans would have had a chance not to come off looking like a bag of dicks. Yep, Trey is right. From his partisan point of view a private Clinton interview would have been more productive.
I would say the select Republicans on that committee came across as Congressional Republican bottom feeders but I am told they truly are the best of the Tea Party best.
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FRIENDS have ‘unfettered access’ to you…and they can say what they like. Honest to God…the conspiracy mindset is amazing.
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Remember…this guy is a professional sleaze. He’s no amateur…he’s an experienced trial attorney and that’s why they put him in that committee chair. I’ve a good friend that’s also an attorney professional sleaze. He taught me about use of the “question” to make an assertion.
Why did Clinton not have a single email from the Ambassador? Well one reason was the Ambassador didn’t choose to send her one. ( perhaps the fact that just about any communication with an Ambassador in a joint like Libya would entail confidential information and Sec. Clinton preferred a more secure means of communication like a State ran unit )
Look at how he asks the question. It implies Sec. Clinton blew off her Ambassadors and chose her friends as council. That’s why Gowdy asked that question. He wasn’t looking for an answer…he was soliciting a false one to be made in your head.
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Nothing would have made Gowdy think Hillary’s answers were accurate. The rest of the world, however, has come to the conclusion that she’s uniquely honest for a politician if after 17 months and 4.7M$ the best they can come up with is that she didn’t use the word “terrorist” a few hours earlier than she did.
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…there would have soon been leaks about how congresswoman Roby brought Hillary to her knees.
Yikes! Given Bill’s history, that makes for an awkward phrase.
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Are you implying that she knew more than the ambassador on the ground in Libya regarding vulnerabilities?
How pathetic - think that up on your own, or did Zippy the Pinhead up above help you with that one?
Gowdy is trying to get a do-over by spinning a new version for political gain. Trey Gowdy is tres stupid.
About the Sidney Blumenthal emails: How is it that I get hundreds of emails on the subject of viagra and not one single one from my gynecologist?
Trey, If you would care to discuss this privately, no one will see your astonishing lack of basic logic.
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Shoulda thought of that eight months ago, pinhead.
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Gowdy, move to Russia. There your tactics are accepted. Everything behind closed doors.
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If I were given a choice, I would not want to be in the same room with Republicans without some type of surveillance —
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Sure, a “private” interview would have made it easier for you to characterize and distort her words.
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So are you saying she should have used her personal email to correspond with the ambassador, instead of the usual secure diplomatic channels? Undoubtedly that’s how all classified and secure communication was handled, as it has been for decades.
Are you saying she is forbidden to send or receive emails from long-time acquaintances on her personal email account?
Are you saying she should have overridden the advice and counsel of the CIA and security professionals who were responsible for the consulate security?
I guess I don’t know what you’re getting at.
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I don’t think Trey is that good at his job. By hitting the email angle as hard as he did, he forced thinking people to examine the issue. Obviously Ambassadors would follow a far more secure protocol. Focusing as much as he did on Bluementhal was a tactical error. Only Chuck Todd wouldn’t understand Clinton knew it is always good for a person in high office to have back channels, just in case some determined person outside government needs to find a way to say something important. I would bet there are lots of journalists who knew the email address.
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Gowdy developed a reputation as a very successful prosecutor back in his home state. Of course, there he was prosecuting, you know, criminals; not so effective when he has to interrogate a very smart, knowledgeable, well-prepared person who is also, you know, innocent of any wrongdoing.
The notion that this would have been more productive if done in private is laughable. As others here have noted, that would only have given the GOP the opportunity to selectively leak testimony. With the hearing conducted out in public, everyone got to see how petty, vindictive, partisan and, frankly, incompetent the Republican members of the panel are.
The Sidney Blumenthal point is also laughable. As Clinton stated, her communications with Ambassadors were generally not conducted by email, so it’s not surprising that there weren’t any emails back and forth with him. And, in a possible life-threatening situation, I would think that the calls would be going to security people, not the Secretary of State.
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