Democrats on the House Select Committee on Benghazi released a report Monday containing excerpts from witness interviews that they said debunked Republican accusations against Hillary Clinton.
The Democrats said the committee’s 54 witness interviews had uncovered no evidence that suggested Clinton had ordered the military to stand down on the night of the 2012 terror attack, nor had they found anything to suggest Clinton and her aides had knowingly destroyed embarrassing documents in the course of the investigation.
The 124-page report provided details about Clinton’s handling of the Benghazi attack, such as the fact that she first learned of the raid around 4 p.m. on Sept. 11, 2012 and spoke to President Obama and CIA Director David Petraeus, among others, later that evening. According to documents obtained by the committee, Clinton spoke to the president of Libya shortly before 7 p.m.
The report was almost entirely focused on Clinton’s involvement with the government’s response to Benghazi, although the select committee has taken a broad look at how various officials handled the attack.
Democrats on the committee included excerpts of closed-door testimony by Cheryl Mills and Jake Sullivan, two top aides to Clinton at the State Department, although 54 witnesses from different agencies have been interviewed. The report includes shorter snippets from a variety of different witnesses.
Despite widespread disagreement about the administration’s reliance on a set of talking points that falsely attributed the attack to a protest over an anti-Muslim YouTube clip, the Democrats defended the talking points by arguing that “social media traffic … cited the video as justification for the attacks” in the days after the raid.
The report came amid tensions between committee Democrats and Republicans over what should be made public and what should remain secret until the end of the investigation.
Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the select committee, has struggled to keep details of the probe under wraps until the investigation is completed. Gowdy has fought recent accusations that Republicans are attempting to politicize the probe.
The Democrats’ report, which is almost entirely focused on Clinton, underscored criticism that they are highlighting aspects of the investigation that deal with the former secretary of state in order to heighten scrutiny of the committee.
Jamal Ware, spokesman for panel Republicans, blasted the Democrats for the “premature” report.”Wait, I thought the Democrats said all had been ‘asked and answered?’ Were they wrong then or are they wrong now? Why is every single bullet point in the Democrats’ press release about Clinton and not a single one about the four people who were killed or about providing better security in the future?” Ware said shortly after the report’s release.
“This is further proof of the Democrats’ obsession with covering for Hillary Clinton instead of investigating the Benghazi terrorist attacks,” Ware added.
“For the majority members of this committee, they will continue to wait until after hearing from all witnesses, up to and including the very last one, before drawing conclusions, because that is what serious investigations do.”
