USA

US House Committee Seeks to Interview Hillary Clinton Over Emails

FILE - Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks at the Massachusetts Conference for Women in Boston, Dec. 4, 2014.

A U.S. House panel is seeking an interview with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over her use of private email and a personal computer server while at the State Department, the committee said in a letter to her lawyer released on Tuesday.

Republican Representative Trey Gowdy, who chairs the U.S. House Select Committee on Benghazi, said in the letter that he wanted to schedule her appearance for no later than May 1 and that the private interview with the committee would be transcribed.

Clinton, the presumed front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, has faced criticism for her use of personal email to conduct State Department business during her tenure rather than a government-issued account. She has said she used the personal account for convenience.

Representatives for Clinton could not be immediately reached for comment on the committee's request. Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill said in a statement last week that the former secretary welcomed the opportunity to appear before the House panel.

Gowdy, whose committee is investigating the 2012 attacks on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, during Clinton's tenure, last week said she had failed to respond to the panel's subpoena for documents in the case.

The State Department has said it has turned over relevant emails to the committee.