Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) downplayed the committee’s focus on Hillary Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server, an issue that was revealed through the committee’s 17-month investigation.  “Not a single member of this committee signed up to investigate you or your e-mails,” Gowdy said.  Clinton came under fire for using a private server for State Department communications, and the arrangement, which may have posed security risks, has also prompted a federal investigation.  Yet in recent months, the Benghazi Committee itself has been criticized for what Clinton allies say has become a partisan inquisition.  Gowdy in his opening statement insisted that the goal of probing her use of a private e-mail server wasn’t about Clinton, but rather about collecting the necessary facts to investigate the Benghazi attacks.  “You have an unusual e-mail arrangement,” Gowdy said, noting that it made it difficult for the State Department to produce her e-mails to the committee.  “It was important and it remains important that this committee have access to all of Ambassador Stevens’s e-mails, the e-mails of other senior leaders and witnesses, and it is important to gain access to all of your e-mails, Madam Secretary,” Gowdy said. “Your e-mails are no less or no more important than the e-mails of anyone else.”  “It just took us a little longer to get them,” he added.  Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking member on the House Select Committee on Benghazi, offered a competing view of the committee, sharply denouncing the way the investigation has homed in on Clinton’s e-mails.  “These documents and e-mails do not show any nefarious activity. In fact, it’s just the opposite… They provide more detail, but they do not change the basic conclusion,” said Cummings. “It is time and it is time now for the Republicans to end this taxpayer funded fishing expedition. We need to come together and shift from politics to policy. That’s what the American people want.”
We're bringing you live updates from the Capitol Hill testimony of former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton.