Secretary of State John Kerry gives the thumbs before boarding his plane in Benito Juarez International airport in Mexico City, on May 22, 2014, en route to Washington.WASHINGTON – Secretary of State John Kerry will testify before Congress next month about the deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya, a one-and-done appearance that the State Department insists is enough to answer questions and means he could avoid the newly formed select committee.
In a letter to the House Oversight chairman, the department said Friday that Kerry could appear on June 12 or June 20 to discuss the Obama administration’s cooperation with the panel in providing emails and other documents related to the Sept. 11, 2012, attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
The department said that appearance “would remove any need for the secretary to appear before the select committee to answer additional questions.”
In response, Frederick Hill, a spokesman for the Oversight Committee, said Chairman Darrell Issa had accepted Kerry’s offer to appear June 12.
The committee had issued two subpoenas for Kerry’s testimony, an unusual step for a Cabinet member that had clearly annoyed the State Department.