The most gripping video of the first three-and-a-half hours of Hillary Clinton's testimony to the Benghazi committee came when the ranking Democrat on the committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings, challenged GOP committee chairman Trey Gowdy to do a very simple thing: release the entire transcript of Sidney Blumenthal's Benghazi testimony to the public.
Cummings: "I move that we put into the record the entire transcript of Sidney Blumenthal—(if) we're going to release the emails, let's do the transcript. That way, the world can see it!"
Gowdy: "Well, we're not going to take that up at a hearing, we'll take up... (cross talk) Why is it that you only want Mr. Blumenthal's released?"
Cummings: "I want all of them released." (There's 54 in total.)
It goes on... dramatically. We still don't know exactly why the Republicans are so obsessed with Sidney Blumenthal and the fact that he sent some emails to Sec. Clinton related to Libya. But we can expect more Blumenthal in the second half of testimony today (because the first three-and-a-half hours weren't enough).
Here's what Elijah Cummings said on the Blumenthal fixation shortly after the committee broke for lunch: "I don't even understand it... this is a friend who would send her emails... I don't even understand what that's all about."
And MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell on the first half of today's testimony: "The simple headline at the end of the three hours is, 'If this is all they have, they have nothing.'"
Stick with us as the GOP continues down the Blumenthal rabbit hole after the break. Gowdy has already promised to return to it. And Cummings has now put him on the defensive by challenging him to release Blumethal's entire testimony. No word yet on why Gowdy hasn't already done that but he sure doesn't seem eager to do it.
The exchange in this CNN video starts just after the 3.00-minute mark.
11:45 AM PT: UPDATE: Gowdy put that request to vote following the break and guess what? The GOP blocked it! Still no transcripts.