Trey Gowdy wants to wrap up Benghazi probe this year

Rep. Trey Gowdy said Sunday he has “zero interest” in stretching out his investigation of the terrorist attacks on the U.S. diplomatic mission and CIA annex in Benghazi into 2016.

But the South Carolina Republican said he feels that revelations about former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s exclusive use of private emails have complicated his efforts.

Mr. Gowdy said he has a narrow interest in Ms. Clinton and her emails, yet she was a key player in the response to September 2012 attacks in which four Americans died.

Revelations that Ms. Clinton, the presumed front-runner for the 2106 Democratic nomination for president, used a private email server instead of a government account have roiled the political scene and raised new questions for Mr. Gowdy’s select committee on Benghazi.

Investigators are not sure whether she has turned over a complete record of her work for government archiving and scrutiny.

“We don’t get to grade our own papers in life, and she had a very unique arrangement with herself, as it relates to public records,” Mr. Gowdy told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

He said he wants to wrap up his investigation as quickly as possible.

The committee has been criticized for repeating the work of other investigations, but Mr. Gowdy noted that he is bringing in witnesses that no other panel has interviewed.

“I’m not on a hunt to necessarily debunk or correct what other people have done,” he said. “Even if you’ve corroborated it, it’s worth your time.”