Gowdy, Top Republicans Trash EmailGate Explanation: ‘No Choice But To Call Clinton At Least Twice’

Hillary Clinton responds to reporters at a press conference on Tuesday March 10, 2015, over EmailGate revelations that she used a private email and server while serving as secretary of state.

Hillary Clinton might have hoped to put EmailGate behind her and her expect 2016 campaign, but Tuesday’s press conference did not satisfy the critics and media.

Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, said Hillary Clinton would be called to appear before the committee to discuss her role on the night of the 2012 attack and her use of a personal email account while serving as secretary of state.

Because Sec Clinton has created more questions than answers, @HouseBenghazi is left w/ no choice but to call her to appear at least twice

— Trey Gowdy (@TGowdySC) March 10, 2015

“If possible, I have more questions now than I did this time yesterday,” Gowdy said during an interview with Greta Van Susteren Tuesday on “On the Record.” Rep. Gowdy said he wants Clinton turn her server over to a third-party arbiter who can determine which documents should be public and which should remain private. However, during her press conference Tuesday, Clinton told reporters she would not willingly hand over the server even to an independent investigator.

“I have no interest in her yoga routine. Trust me,” Gowdy said, referring to one of Clinton’s descriptions about the contents of her personal emails. “I have no interest in that. But I have every interest in public record, whether it’s related to Libya or not, and I have no interest in her personal attorney determining what is a public record and what is not a public record.”

Republican leaders also trashed Clinton’s EmailGate explanation Tuesday, with both the former and current Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman weighing in on the controversy.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the former chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said Clinton’s EmailGate explanation was “not plausible.”

“Her statement did little to answer the many legitimate questions about the mishandling of these emails, including the security risks involved with her use of a non-government server for official communications,” Issa said in a statement. “She also did not explain why she believed she had the right, for two years, and over the course of multiple investigations, to keep these e-mails from Congress, from the press, and from the American people.”

#HillaryPresser requires that we merely trust that Clinton was an unbiased arbiter of her own e-mails. #tcot #HillaryEmail

— Darrell Issa (@DarrellIssa) March 10, 2015

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, the current chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said he and other members of the committee are going to continue investigating whether Clinton violated the Federal Records Act, which legal experts say she clearly did.

In what were her first public comments since the scandal broke last week, Clinton said it “would have been better” if she used an official government account, but claimed to use a private email and server as a “matter of convenience.” Clinton also claimed she wanted to use one phone, though did not explain why she couldn’t put separate emails in one phone, something reporters took a few seconds to digest when she first uttered the excuse.

Clinton made her remarks Tuesday afternoon at the United Nations following an event on women’s empowerment, which have already fallen apart in the face of scrutiny.

For instance, the former secretary said just two weeks ago that she used both an iPhone and a Blackberry routinely, which was caught on tape and published by PPD YouTube.

She also briefly addressed her use of a private email server, but said it contains personal communications between her and her husband, former President Bill Clinton. Because she allegedly wants to keep it private, Clinton refused media and lawmakers’ requests to turn the server over to an independent investigator.

Yet, only a few weeks ago, former President Bill Clinton told reporters he had only sent two emails in his entire life, neither of which were to his wife.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus called Clinton’s press conference “completely disingenuous” in a statement released late Tuesday.

“If she had an ounce of respect for the American people, she would have apologized for putting our national security at risk for ‘convenience,'” Priebus said. “She would’ve agreed to hand over her secret server to an independent arbiter. And she would’ve reassured the nation that her influence is not for sale to foreign governments. She did none of that.”

A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner said the press conference “raised more questions than it answered.”

“Secretary Clinton didn’t hand over her emails out of the goodness of her heart – she was forced to by smart, determined, and effective oversight by the House Select Committee on Benghazi,” Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said. “The American people deserve the truth.”

But Democratic Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings said he hoped the House Select Committee on Benghazi would turn its attention back to the attacks “instead of attempting to impact the 2016 presidential campaign.”

“If Republicans still want additional assurances that all official government records have been produced, they can follow standard practice and ask this secretary — and previous secretaries — to sign certifications under oath,” he said in a statement.