WASHINGTON (AP) – A former State Department employee who helped set up and maintain Hillary Rodham Clinton’s private email server refused to testify to a House committee Thursday, and his lawyers said he won’t testify before any congressional committees.
Bryan Pagliano appeared briefly behind closed doors Thursday before a House committee investigating the deadly 2012 Benghazi attacks. He refused to answer questions, asserting his constitutional rights not to incriminate himself, committee members said.
Pagliano’s lawyers said he also will refuse to testify if served with a subpoena by two Senate committees looking into the email controversy.
Clinton, the former secretary of state and front-runner for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, has been dogged by questions about her use of a private email account for government business.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson – both Republicans – have said they are considering offering Pagliano immunity from any potential prosecution in an effort to compel him to testify.