Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, announced Thursday his panel had questioned a pair of drone operators who had been working in the region near Benghazi on the night of the 2012 terror attack.
The South Carolina Republican blasted committee Democrats for their suggestion last month that questioning the drone operators was unnecessary because congressional investigators had already interviewed high-ranking military officers.
“Thorough, fact-centered investigations corroborate information with individuals who actually have specific knowledge and expertise. That means talking to enlisted service members with firsthand information is just as important as talking to the generals and admirals who command them,” Gowdy said after the closed-door interviews. “I appreciate the important work of these airmen, their service to our country, and their willingness to talk to our committee.”
One of the drone operators questioned Thursday had been nicknamed “John from Iowa” after he dialed in to a radio station in 2013 and recounted his experience as a drone sensor operator with access to drone cameras in the early hours of the Benghazi attack.
The unnamed caller said he had not been contacted by Congress as part of multiple investigations into the circumstances behind the raid.
Benghazi Committee Republicans said “John from Iowa” was indeed a drone sensor operator who was still an active member of the Air Force. The majority noted it had only managed to schedule the interview with him after months of delays, which included the Pentagon’s claim in late April that it had expended substantial resources searching for the drone pilot to no avail.
A spokesman for committee Democrats blasted Republicans for touting the interview with the drone sensor operator.
“There is a gaping hole in the Republican press release—it completely ignores the fact that ‘John from Iowa’ provided virtually no substantive information we didn’t already have,” the spokesman said. “To the contrary, he referred us back to the same videos the Pentagon made available to the select committee more than a year ago.”
