Office of the Speaker of the House
John Boehner's GOP Budget Presser Turned Into One About Benghazi
The House speaker gave a press conference Tuesday morning on the just-released GOP plan, but he quickly turned his attention to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
House Speaker John Boehner appeared Tuesday morning at a press conference ostensibly to discuss details about the new House GOP budget blueprint.
But after giving just a few quick notes on the fiscal 2016 proposed budget, Boehner shifted to Benghazi and the recent controversy over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private server and email system.
"The American people deserve all the facts of what happened in Benghazi," Boehner said, referring to the 2012 attack on an American diplomatic compound in that city in Libya. "That's why it's so important for Secretary Clinton to turn over her server."
Clinton has been criticized in recent weeks for using a private email account and server—located in her house in Chappaqua, N.Y.—to conduct State business, instead of systems set up by the State Department. The practice has raised concerns about transparency and national security. At a press conference one week ago, Clinton said she used a personal account "for convenience."
"Looking back, it would have been better if I'd simply used a second email account and carried a second phone," Clinton said. "But at the time, this didn't seem like an issue."
Asked by a reporter how this process will move forward, Boehner replied: "The way forward is for the secretary to turn over all of her emails that pertain to the public. But some neutral third party" will have to conduct a review of which emails are public and which are personal, he said. Boehner credited the Republican-helmed Benghazi committee for finding out about Clinton's personal email usage. The committee issued subpoenas earlier this month for Clinton's emails.
A draft copy of the budget released Monday night to reporters showed the new plan mirrors House budgets of years past, with new House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price using many strategies proposed by Paul Ryan, who was chairman from 2011 until earlier this year.
The new budget would repeal the Affordable Care Act—replacing it with "patient-centered health reform"—reduce government regulations, and amp up defense coffers, increasing spending by $387 billion over 10 years.