“If it’s true to form, if it’s a closed deposition, his staff [will] cherry pick content and leak it once again to the press that’s only too willing to print it,” panel member Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) told The Hill. “It might be grossly inaccurate. In fact, it may be the opposite of what’s being asserted. But by the time somebody gets around to reporting that – if they ever do – the damage is done.”

To stop that from happening, Connolly said, “I would hope Pickering and his attorney would refuse to be deposed without Democrats present.”

Republicans on the committee say Democrats will be allowed to sit in on the deposition, just like they have for other formal interviews.

Democrats say that hasn’t stopped Issa from leaking a constant drip-drip of damaging allegations about Benghazi over the past few weeks. These include the revelation that the Obama administration ordered a special forces team in Tripoli to stand down before the attack was over.