Clinton Aide Huma Abedin Appears Before Benghazi Committee

The questions will pertain to the events before and after the 2012 ambush on USA facilities in Libya.

The Benghazi panel is under intense scrutiny after two House Republicans described the GOP-led committee as partisan and aimed at hurting Clinton's presidential bid, a characterization the panel's chairman rejects.

Friday's CBS This Morning also offered a full report on Abedin's upcoming testimony before the Benghazi Committee.

Clinton noted that this is the eighth such committee to investigate the Benghazi attacks.

"The question becomes whether this is a taxpayer funded effort to derail the candidacy of Hillary Clinton", he said. Next week Clinton will be on the hot seat.

"Hillary Clinton's stunning admission that she unilaterally set up her secret email server that exposed Top Secret material shows she alone is responsible for putting national security at risk", RNC spokesman Michael Short said.

Congressman Pompeo says the controversy will not get in the way of Clinton's hearing, and that the Committee will be professional. This week, Rep. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.) said "a big part" of the Benghazi investigation was created to go after Clinton rather than get to the bottom of the attacks.

And it's already clear she is arming herself with the since-repudiated comments of House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who a few weeks ago linked the committee's fate to Clinton's once-slipping poll numbers.

Gowdy has dismissed those criticisms as coming from a disgruntled employee who was sacked. Gowdy said Hanna, who is not on the committee, was misinformed.

'House Republicans aren't even shy anymore about admitting that the Benghazi Committee is a partisan farce, ' the statement read. There are ongoing questions about Abedin's possible 2012 ethics standards violations when she was an adviser to Hillary Clinton at the same time she was working for Teneo Holdings.

"If you look at what her job was, you would think she would have some knowledge of some of the events", Westmoreland said, adding later, "I imagine everyone at the state department had some knowledge".

But on Sunday, Clinton told CNN's Jake Tapper that she has no idea what the panel will ask of her when she sits down in front of them this week.

But Clinton says there shouldn't be a timetable for such a decision.

"I appreciated the time of the members and committee staff today and I answered all their questions to the best of my ability". The two are so close that Clinton has referred to Abedin as her second daughter. "Her campaign spokesman says the investigation has zero credibility".

"It's been helpful to understand what the mood was like at the Department of State", he continued. But he received special security clearance in order to review and discuss classified materials pertaining to the attack.

Abedin is also on Clinton's 2016 team.