The lawmaker leading the charge to investigate the Benghazi, Libya,
terror attack on Friday subpoenaed the co-author of a report that
slammed the State Department but didn't interview Hillary Clinton.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) formally
demanded that retired Ambassador Thomas Pickering submit to being
deposed by the committee next Thursday.
The subpoena comes in the wake of a series of acrimonious public
exchanges this week between the two men. Issa didn't issue a subpoena
to former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen, who
co-authored the Benghazi report with Pickering.
Pickering has said he would testify before Issa's panel about last
year's Accountability Review Board (ARB) report on the attack that
killed four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens.
Pickering and Mullen have refused, however, to submit to a transcribed
interview with Issa and his staff, calling the closed-door proceeding
an "inappropriate precondition" to their testimony.
"Your refusal to allow staff investigators to interview you is
inconsistent with your commitment to be 'tough and transparent'," Issa
wrote to Pickering. "In light of your continuing refusal to appear
voluntarily for a transcribed interview … I have found it necessary to
issue a subpoena to compel your appearance at a deposition."
