Clinton to testify on Benghazi consulate attack on Jan 22

The United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify before key Congressional committees on January 22, on the deadly militant attack on a US Consulate in Benghazi, in which the US Ambassador to Libya and three other American were killed.

Clinton's testimony before the House and Senate foreign relations committees had to be postponed due to her illness.

Clinton fell ill -- owing to a severe stomach infection -- early December. She was even admitted to a hospital last month and treated for blood clot in her head.

She has now fully recovered and on Monday she resumed her full schedule at the State Department.

While there has been no official word on her Benghazi testimony, Senator Bob Croker, member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told a news channel that this could be on January 22.

"I had some very good conversations with her chief of staff and, certainly, it's up to Senator (Robert) Menendez, the (new) chairman of the (Senate Foreign Relations) committee, to set these. But my sense is, that her hearing probably will take place the morning of the 22. I think they feel she's going to be healthy enough to come in that day,"

Croker told the MSNBC news channel in an interview.

"If that were to occur -- and, again, this is Senator Menendez's decision -- we could move very quickly, maybe even that afternoon, to Senator (John) Kerry's hearings and have those right after," Croker said.

Kerry, the current Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has been nominated by the US President Barack Obama, as his next Secretary of State.

"So my sense is the process that most of us would like to see could well take place, and I actually sense -- especially in talking to her chief just in the last few days -- that she's anxious to want to come up and testify on Benghazi," Croker said.

"I think that's an important thing both for her but, obviously, for our country and very important to happen prior to the Kerry confirmation. I think it's going to happen that way," he said in response to a question.