Clinton lashes out at US Benghazi committee

Washington: Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday lashed out at the special US House committee investigating the deadly attacks in Benghazi, Libya, calling it a partisan political exercise designed to "exploit" the deaths of four Americans.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy's recent comments that the Benghazi panel can take credit for the Democratic front-runner's diminished public standing prove Republicans are going after her for political reasons, Clinton said in a televised interview.

The presidential contender told NBC television's "on Monday" show that if she were president, she would have "done everything" in her power to shut down such a partisan investigation.

"Look at the situation they chose to exploit, to go after me for political reasons: the death of four Americans in Benghazi," Clinton said in an interview before anl appearance in the early voting state of New Hampshire.

"This committee was set up, as they have admitted, for the purpose of making a partisan, political issue out of the deaths of four Americans," Clinton said.

Clinton was secretary of state during the 2012 attacks. She stopped short of calling for the Benghazi panel to be disbanded, as some Democrats have urged.

"That's up to Congress," she said, adding that she was looking forward to testifying before the Benghazi panel on Oct 22 "to explain what I've done."

Clinton's comments came as Democrats on the Benghazi panel released a partial transcript of a closed-door interview with Clinton's former chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, in response to what they called selective and inaccurate Republican leaks.