Benghazi chairman: House may subpoena Clinton’s emails

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, said Sunday that the House could vote to subpoena Hillary Clinton’s emails.

{mosads}”There are lots of ways to motivate people,” Gowdy said on “Fox News Sunday,” mentioning public pressure to force Clinton to turn over her private email server to an independent arbiter like a retired judge, archivist or inspector general.

“Otherwise the House, as an institution, may be forced to go to court to try to get access to them,” Gowdy added.

Gowdy’s committee initially moved to subpoena Clinton’s emails, but he acknowledged last week his panel lacks the authority to obtain the server.

Clinton has turned over about 55,000 pages of emails to the State Department for archiving. She maintained at a recent press conference at the United Nations that the more than 30,000 emails she deleted were “personal.”

But Republicans aren’t buying that.

“I just can’t trust her lawyers to make the determination that the public is getting everything they’re entitled to,” Gowdy said Sunday.

“We shouldn’t have to. I hope it doesn’t have to get to that point. It’s an open legal question and anytime you litigate something you’re talking about years and years,” Gowdy said Sunday. “I think an imminently reasonable alternative is for her to turn over that server to an independent, neutral third party,” he said, insisting “the House has no business looking at purely personal emails.”

His comments follow those of Rep. Susan Brooks (R-Ind.), a member of the committee, who said last Thursday that “all options are on the table,” hinting at a potential House subpoena vote.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) has also suggested his committee may subpoena Clinton’s emails and hold hearings.