Brock: Benghazi truthers should release their e-mails With nothing to hide, Hillary stands strong against Republican smear tactics.

David Brock | USATODAY

Even though Hillary Clinton fully and clearly answered questions regarding her e-mail usage yesterday, the Benghazi truthers on Capitol Hill refuse to give up. Clinton had barely finished her press conference when Trey Gowdy, chair of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, issued a statement demanding that Clinton's e-mail server be turned over, and threatening to call her to testify before the committee twice.

If anyone was wondering why the Republicans have stoked this e-mail controversy, you now have your answer: the investigation into the Benghazi tragedy is all but dead and this is a desperate gambit to keep it alive in the 2016 elections.

Millions of taxpayer dollars have been spent on multiple reviews and investigations looking into the tragedy, and nothing incriminating has been found. Ten congressional committees have participated in the investigations, which have included more than 50 senior level staff briefings, 22 hearings, five independent/bipartisan reports, dozens of interviews and the disclosure of at least 40,000 pages of documents .

Yet the only great revelation has been Clinton's use of a private e-mail account, publicly known for at least two years.

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Clinton said that her e-mail use fully complied with all laws and that the system she used was safe and secure. That system, she said, had been set up for former President Bill Clinton and had never been hacked. Which is saying a lot more than the federal government can claim. In 2013 alone, the federal government incurred almost 61,000 cyber attacks and security breaches. The State Department's own e-mail system has been hacked on a number of occasions, most recently last year.

But that wasn't enough for Gowdy, who is baselessly calling into question the security of Hillary Clinton's e-mail account.

The real issue for the Republicans isn't national security, it's keeping the partisan scandal alive. That's why Gowdy wants Clinton's e-mail server. Republicans want to rifle through Clinton's strictly private e-mails to harass and embarrass her. Perhaps they'll want to hire Ken Starr to do the snooping.

Yesterday, Hillary Clinton made it clear that under the law each government employee is responsible for determining whether e-mails are personal or work-related. The employee gets to make that decision, not the press or political enemies.

Republican partisans are trying to pretend there is something wrong or suspicious in Clinton keeping private e-mail private so they can go on an endless fishing expedition. Every American has a right to communicate privately with his or her own family about personal matters, and we all understand and respect that privacy. There shouldn't be a double standard for the former Secretary of State just because her last name is Clinton.

Clinton's decision to ask the State Department to release all of her work-related e-mail is an act of unprecedented transparency. Clearly, there is nothing to hide.

Gowdy should apply the same standard he's applying to Clinton to himself and his staff. They should release all their e-mail — public and private — unless, of course, they are the ones hiding something — perhaps their partisan motivations and strategic leaking to the media.

David Brock is chairman of the Democratic SuperPAC American Bridge.

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