A GOP member of the House Select Committee on Benghazi says “all options are on the table” to gain access to Hillary Clinton’s private email server.
Rep. Susan Brooks (R-Ind.) said the full House could even vote to issue a subpoena for the device.
{mosads}While members of the panel “certainly believe that that shouldn’t be necessary … I think all options are on the table right now. It’s unclear exactly where this will go,” Brooks said during an interview with Fox News’s “On the Record.”
“This is highly unusual that we find ourselves in this situation,” she added, noting the select panel had already issued a subpoena for the emails from Clinton’s private account during her time as secretary of State.
“So I do believe when we get back to Washington next week, we will be talking about what all of our options might be. But I would urge her not to require us to go down that path.”
Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), the chairman of the select committee investigating the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, has urged Clinton to hand her private server over to a third party to confirm that sensitive emails were not deleted.
On Wednesday, Gowdy acknowledged that his panel lacks the authority to obtain the server.
“The House as a whole may have the authority to seize personal property. My committee does not. But rather than have that protracted legal battle, I don’t know why she doesn’t just turn the server over,” Gowdy said during an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Brooks said that Clinton “should want to offer up her server, should want an independent body to resolve these issues.”
While she wouldn’t suggest an arbiter, Brooks suggested the server could be turned over to a retired federal judge or an inspector general.
“We certainly as a country have come together on really tough issues in a bipartisan way and I think we can do that if we find and can find that third party arbiter. I would encourage her to turn that over to whoever we can agree to,” she said.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) has also suggested that his panel could issue subpoenas and hold hearings on Clinton’s emails and private server.