Huma Abedin, the vice chairwoman of Hillary for America who also worked for Clinton at the State Department, had been scheduled weeks ago to testify Friday behind closed doors. | Getty Clinton campaign blasts Benghazi panel for announcing Abedin testimony

Hillary Clinton’s campaign on Thursday night slammed the House Select Committee on Benghazi for publicly announcing the Friday appearance of her top campaign organizer before the panel, dismissing it as “just another tactic in their partisan plan to go after Hillary Clinton.”

Huma Abedin, vice chairwoman of Hillary for America who also worked for Clinton at the State Department, had been scheduled weeks ago to testify Friday behind closed doors. On Thursday, the committee circulated a background memo that confirmed her appearance and noted that investigators would ask her only about Libya policy and events related to the 2012 attack.


But the campaign accused the panel of playing politics, particularly because the committee rarely announces appearances before they happen — and because Abedin wasn’t at the State Department the night of the Benghazi attacks, they said. The campaign also said Abedin, who was working part-time at State around the time of the attack, has limited “knowledge about the events surrounding Benghazi.”

“The Committee’s focus on Huma (as opposed to numerous intelligence and defense community officials still outstanding) is additional evidence that the actual attack in Benghazi, and its lessons about how we might better protect diplomats serving in dangerous places, are the last things on the committee’s mind,” the campaign said in a statement.

“The Republicans' focus on her of all people, and their decision to leak details about her appearance, is just another tactic in their partisan plan to go after Hillary Clinton,” the campaign statement said.

House Republicans also said they had no plans to ask about her “special government employee” status at the State Department — a classification that allowed Abedin to work for an outside consulting firm and the Clinton Foundation at the same time she was advising Clinton at State. Senate Republicans currently are investigating that work relationship.

The campaign’s latest broadside against the committee caps another tough day for the panel. Republican Rep. Richard Hanna of New York on Wednesday night took to radio airwaves and said he agreed with Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) suggestion that the panel was created to hurt Clinton.

"This may not be politically correct, but I think that there was a big part of this investigation that was designed to go after ... an individual: Hillary Clinton," he said.

Democrats immediately pounced, much like they did after McCarthy’s gaffe, redoubling their accusations that the panel is a political operation, not a serious investigation of the attacks.

Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), a former federal prosecutor, has long maintained that he is conducting a fact-based investigation without political motivation. He took a shot at Hanna Thursday, saying his colleague has no idea what the panel is about since they do not brief fellow lawmakers until their investigation is over.

Benghazi staff earlier in the day said the Abedin background document was an attempt to rebut potential “distortions” about what they planned to ask Abedin, noting that the committee would not be asking about her “special government employee” status. That SGE position allowed the Clinton’s former deputy chief of staff at State to both serve the secretary of state and receive a paycheck from Teneo, an outside consulting firm that has very close ties to the Clinton Foundation and Bill Clinton.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) currently is investigating whether the dual-employment would constitute a conflict of interest for Abedin.

State’s inspector general several years ago opened what it called a “criminal investigation” into potential overpayment of Abedin for vacation time. But the Justice Department declined to pursue the matter and the issue is being settled at the administrative level, although Abedin’s lawyers are fighting that resolution and argue she did nothing wrong.