Benghazi Select Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy gave Hillary Clinton the option as to whether she wanted to testify in public or in private. She chose public, and it now seems he regrets that decision.
“I can just tell you, in the private interviews, there is never any of what you saw Thursday. It is one hour on the Republican side, one hour on the Democrat side, which is why you’re going to see the next two dozen interviews done privately,” he said.
“The private ones always produce better results.”
Instead of producing results or new information into the investigation in Benghazi, many argue that last week's hearing produced only partisan bickering and entertaining sound bites between Gowdy and Elijah Cummings, one of the Democrats on the panel.
The panel infighting unfortunately overshadowed more important exchanges between Clinton and the committee members. For example, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) revealed an email Clinton wrote to her family after the Benghazi ambush that proved that she knew it was a terror attack. Yet, Jordan reminded her, she told Americans it was the result of a YouTube video. The committee now had proof that the former secretary of state knowingly misled the public. It should have been front page news. Instead, outlets replayed Gowdy vs. Cummings all day.
In short, the committee appeared more intent on fighting one other than getting answers from their witness. Clinton, as a result, left the hearing in one piece.
Gowdy has to be frustrated that a year and half's work has been jeopardized in the past few weeks. He had already been on the defensive in the aftermath of GOP Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy's comments that the Benghazi committee had a political agenda.
As for how the committee's most visible witness performed last week, Gowdy said she offered little substance.
“Did she cooperate in answering the question? Yes. Was it an accurate answer? No.”