The unique feature of the House Select Committee on Benghazi is that its sole mission is to inflict political damage on a person who already has been exonerated by the collective force of seven congressional committees.
At last count, two congressional Republicans and a notable GOP staffer have admitted that their party’s Benghazi Committee is a partisan political exercise intended to undermine Hillary Clinton. The pressure’s starting to get to the panel’s chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), who said yesterday that Republicans not on the committee need to “shut up.” But as Clinton herself prepares to testify this week, the political conditions surrounding the controversial panel appear to be going from bad to worse. The Huffington Post reported yesterday:
A probe of the 2012 Benghazi attacks may have violated congressional ethics rules, House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday after a top Republican indicated it was aimed at hurting Democrat Hillary Clinton's presidential candidacy. Angry Democrats called for the Benghazi panel to be disbanded following the remarks on Tuesday evening by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. He is campaigning to be the next speaker of the House when the current speaker, John Boehner, retires on Oct. 30.
On September 11, 2012, I was in Amman, Jordan, part of my routine international visits as deputy director of the CIA. I had already been to Israel and was due the next day to depart for Saudi Arabia. I had dined that night with the head of the Jordanian military and the head of Jordanian intelligence, and upon returning to the hotel I checked in with Washington and caught up on e-mail before going to bed. Earlier in the day I had seen reports about an incident in Cairo that, although troubling, seemed to have ended without too much damage and with no injuries.
Next month will mark exactly two years since the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. And a week from this Friday, Fox News will present a special documentary about the attacks, speaking with security operatives who were there, titled 13 Hours at Benghazi.
A central question of Fox News' latest documentary on Benghazi has already been answered by official congressional and State Department investigations into the terrorist attacks. On August 27, Fox announced "13 Hours at Benghazi," a new documentary hosted by Special Report anchor Bret Baier that will reportedly include "exclusive" interviews with three American security personnel who were present for the September 2012 attacks. The production, scheduled to air September 5, is based on a forthcoming book written by journalist Mitchell Zuckoff and the CIA contractors.
Hillary Rodham Clinton is daring women to compete, but not saying whether she will herself in 2016. Clinton also drew on her experience as secretary of state, listing her biggest regret as the deadly 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, that...
This map of the location of US Navy ships during the 2012 attack on the consulate in Benghazi, Libya, obtained by the conservative group Judicial Watch, is the latest purported smoking gun in what Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has called "the worst tragedy since 9/11." The implication: The White House was in a position to intervene while the attack was ongoing but, for some reason, chose not to. "Map Shows Dozens of U.S. Military Ships Stationed In North Africa Waters During Benghazi Attack," wrote Katie Pavlich at Town Hall, a headline that was picked up by the esteemed Fox Nation.