House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi plans to talk to fellow Democrats on the House Benghazi committee about whether they should boycott further proceedings by the panel—a decision she says is theirs to make, not hers.
On the day after the Republican-led committee kept Hillary Clinton at the witness table from 10 a.m. until past 8 p.m., in what was widely viewed as a public relations victory for the Democratic presidential candidate, Pelosi at a news conference praised Clinton's "knowledge, poise and stamina."
Asked whether Democrats, who have threatened to quit the panel following the hearing with former secretary of state, who is leading the race for the party's nomination, Pelosi hedged.
"It's up to the members of the committee. I've taken my lead from them on it," she said."They may decide that now in defending the truth their job is done. They want to move on.
"I have to talk to them and see what risk they see if we would walk away," she added. "Because you see the distortion, just the disconnect with reality, if we walk away."
During the Thursday night's marathon hearing with Clinton, one of the committee's Democratic members, Adam Schiff of California, suggested staying on the committee would prove futile.
"It's unlikely the majority here will even consult with us on what their final report looks like," he said.
There was no immediate comment from a spokesman for Representative Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the top Democrat on the committee, who during Thursday's proceedings repeatedly and passionately decried what he described as an "abusive" process designed to undermine Clinton's candidacy.
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