Rep. Trey Gowdy, who chairs the House Select Committee on Benghazi, on Wednesday defended the work the panel has done and said he's accepted the fact that
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy "made a mistake" with his statement linking the committee with Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.
"What I tell folks back home is I don't care how many times you put an ear piece in your ear, you still screw up, and Kevin screwed up," the South Carolina Republican told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program.
"Kevin has apologized as profusely as a human being can apologize. I went back and watched the interview ... I don't know if it was [Sean] Hannity pressing him or he got thrown off by a grade, I can't unlock the mysteries of that."
McCarthy is not on the Benghazi Committee, said Gowdy, and questions concerning Clinton are just a small part of the panel's investigation behind the Sept. 11, 2012 attacks that claimed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three diplomatic staff members.
"We've interviewed 41 witnesses, including seven eyewitnesses," said Gowdy. "I would just respectfully ask folks to look at what we've done."
Clinton will be interviewed by the panel on Oct. 22, and Gowdy promised watchers will see her treated professionally and fairly.
Meanwhile, he denied that the panel has anything to do with Clinton's presidential aspirations, even though its probe led to the revelations that there were missing emails, and eventually to the discovery that she was using a private server for her communications while she was secretary of state.
"When Speaker [John] Boehner called me, he never mentioned Secretary Clinton's name," Gowdy said about the decision to form the panel. "In fact, we've had three public hearings and I never mentioned her name. If you look at what we've done, the 50 some odd witnesses we've already interviewed, not a single one has been named Clinton. The 50,000 documents we have accessed no other committee has accessed, less than 5 percent had anything to do with her."
But as Clinton was the secretary of state when the attacks occurred, it's important that she be interviewed, but "we're not going to end with her," said Gowdy.
However, he did note that the committee still does not have all her emails from the time of the attack, and is not going to be letting up on its demands.
He credited the media for its work in unveiling Clinton's use of a private server, but at the same time, "it's not my job to look at the classified information or all aspects of her email. My interest in her email is making sure the record as it relates is complete and full."