Benghazi Committee Extends Deadline on Hillary Clinton's Emails

A US House of Representatives committee investigating a 2012 attack on a US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, has extended the deadline for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to turn over related emails, a panel spokesman confirmed on Monday.

Republican Representative Trey Gowdy, head of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, said on March 4 that Clinton had until March 13 to comply with a subpoena to provide the committee with relevant emails. The deadline has been extended to March 27, the spokesman confirmed.

"Chairman Gowdy granted a reasonable extension because for him this is not about politics. It is about getting all relevant documents for the committee," said Jamal Ware, spokesman for the committee.

"He still believes the best option for Secretary Clinton is to turn over her server to a neutral arbiter to independently determine what should be in the public domain. The committee has no interest in her personal emails."

Clinton has said she has already given copies of all her work-related emails to the State Department. The State Department has said it has already given Gowdy's committee all the relevant emails from that cache, some 300 in all.

Members of Gowdy's committee argue that they need to see all of Clinton's emails, including those she did not give to the State Department, to be sure of this.

Gowdy's committee is investigating the attack in which a US ambassador was killed, along with three other Americans, during Clinton's tenure at the State Department. He has said he wants Clinton to testify to the committee before April, when she is expected to formally announce her candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Clinton's use of a personal email address, rather than US government email, as well as her use of a private server, has bought her under scrutiny.

Clinton's office has said she turned over paper copies of more than 30,000 work emails to the State Department last year, including all that pertained to Benghazi, and that almost 32,000 more emails were withheld as private or personal records.