Clinton to appear before Benghazi panel in October

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has agreed to testify at a public hearing on October 22 before the House committee investigating the 2012 Benghazi attack, the panel announced late Wednesday.

The confirmation comes after a back-and-forth between Clinton and the panel over whether she would attend and sets the stage for a surefire media spectacle involving the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination being grilled by likely antagonistic Republican lawmakers. 

{mosads}“Members of the committee will question the former secretary about Libya, Benghazi and her email arrangement consistent with the scope and jurisdiction of the committee,” panel spokesman Jamal Ware said in a statement.

Lawmakers have been particularly irate at the revelations that Clinton used a personal email account housed on a private server throughout her time in office and may have used it to send unsecured classified emails.

Federal officials have recently been called in to investigate the practice, which has only heightened the scrutiny on Clinton. 

Democrats have largely dismissed the committee’s efforts as a partisan charade meant to embarrass Clinton as fully as possible during her campaign for the Democratic nomination.

Republicans have refused to yield, however. They say that they are continuing to press for answers about the 2012 attack in Libya, which left a U.S. ambassador and three others dead, and seek to expose the security oversights that made it possible.  

Over the weekend, Clinton’s campaign announced that the former secretary would be testifying before the committee, though congressional staffers later denied that final arrangements had been hammered out. Wednesday’s announcement confirmed that an offer had been made and accepted for Clinton to testify on Oct. 22.

This story was updated at 7:06 p.m.