Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s close aide Huma Abedin revealed in her testimony to the Benghazi committee that she had a friend from college who was in the city the night of the attack.
During her testimony, Abedin was asked about an October 2002 email to Secretary Clinton where she indicated that she had spoken to a friend about visiting an injured DS officer who was in Benghazi the night of the attacks.
The DS officer’s name was redacted from Abedin’s testimony, but members of Congress revealed that he had spent over a year at Walter Reed Hospital.
She confirmed for the committee that she had spoken with a friend from college who was in Benghazi the night of the attack.
“Was your friend a witness in any way to the attacks?” asked Benghazi Committee deputy chief counsel Sharon Jackson.
“I am not able to discuss that,” Abedin replied, prompting her counsel Karen Dunn to interrupt the questioning to go off the record. The committee agreed, leaving the details of her friendship hidden from the public.
Read the full exchange below:
When going back on the record, Abedin’s counsel requested that the committee strike the question about the friend but it was denied.
Abedin attended George Washington University and worked as an intern in the White House in 1996. She was later hired by then-First Lady Hillary Clinton.
She added that she was “pretty certain” that Clinton called the injured DS officer who was in the hospital.
All told, Abedin spent six hours testifying in front of the Benghazi committee in October of 2015. The transcripts of the interview were released this week as part of the overall Benghazi report.