Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suffered a concussion after fainting Saturday which means she will no longer be able to testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the deadly attack of a U.S consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
Dehydration caused Clinton to faint, which was likely the result of a stomach virus she has been battling over the past few days.
Contrary to some reports, the 65-year-old former Senator was not hospitalized after fainting but doctors are recommending she takes time to rest after the incident which means she’ll be working from home for a little while.
“At their recommendation, she will continue to work from home next week, staying in regular contact with Department and other officials,” said Philippe Reines the deputy assistant secretary of state. “She is looking forward to being back in the office soon.”
Another official added that the concussion was “not severe” and Clinton should be making a quick recovery.
Unfortunately, that means that the Secretary of State will no longer be present on Thursday to testify on Capitol Hill regarding the September 2012 attack that took the lives of four Americans.
“Secretary Clinton’s team contacted Senator Kerry this morning to inform them of the Secretary’s concussion,” said Jodi Seth spokeswoman for Democratic Sen. John Kerry. “Senator Kerry was relieved to hear that the Secretary is on the mend, but he insisted that given her condition, she could not and should not appear on Thursday as previously planned, and that the nation’s best interests are served by the report and hearings proceeding as scheduled with senior officials appearing in her place.”
Deputy Secretaries of State, William Burns and Thomas Nides, will be taking Clinton’s place to testify before the committee.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Florida, said that it is unfortunate that Clinton suffered the concussion, but there are still matters that need to be resolved.
“Although I respect Bill and Tom, we still don’t have information from the Obama administration on what went to tragically wrong in Benghazi,” Ros-Lehtinen said. “We have been combing classified and unclassified documents and have tough questions about State Department threat assessments and decision-making on Benghazi. This requires a public appearance by the Secretary of State herself.”
