Clinton confidant set for private Benghazi grilling : By Rachael Bade

Clinton confidant set for private Benghazi grilling : By Rachael Bade

House GOP Benghazi investigators will face off with a combative confidant of Hillary Clinton this week in a closed-door interrogation session — one of the biggest moments for a Benghazi probe that continues to dog the Democratic presidential front-runner.
The House Select Committee on Benghazi on Tuesday will depose Sidney Blumenthal — a longtime Clinton family friend — about why he emailed the former secretary of state unsubstantiated intelligence on Libya, whether he was paid for the work and whether he used his Clinton connections to help his business partners, sources familiar with the GOP plan told POLITICO.

They want to see whether Blumenthal — who earned a spot in Clinton's inner circle after his ardent defense of Bill during the 1990s impeachment trial — was able to shape or influence top-level decisions that led to the security lapse at the U.S. Libyan compound where four Americans died.
"He clearly corresponded with one of the key decision-makers with respect to the security levels in Libya, the risk in Libya, Libya policy, and provided information to her [on] threats and potential responses to those threats," said GOP panel member Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.). "So it is incumbent on our committee to learn ... what his role was in U.S. Libya policy and how it impacted decisions related to security."
Blumenthal — barred from a State position by the Obama administration but paid $10,000 a month to advise the philanthropic Clinton Foundation during that time — will face inquiries about why his emails or advice from his memos were mentioned in more than 35 percent of the correspondence Clinton received on Libya, according to the committee, which she circulated to top staff at the State Department.

 http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/clinton-confidant-private-benghazi-grilling-blumenthal-118996.html#ixzz3d8k6hlcQ