Responding to criticism that the investigation into the Benghazi attack has stretched on longer than the Watergate investigation, Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., said Sunday that the committee has been working for so long because of obstruction on the part of Democrats.
“What’s taken us so long is Democrats on the committee and in this administration have played hide the ball,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We would have been happy to move more quickly but we were met with obstruction all along the way.”
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Hillary Clinton is expected to testify this week before the House Select Committee on Benghazi.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said if Republicans were really looking to get to the bottom of the attack on the consulate that killed four Americans and ensure it never happens again, they would call witnesses other than Clinton and those tied to her, such as the defense secretary or CIA director at the time of the attack in 2012.
“The reason they haven’t brought any of these people in … is because they’re not running for president,” Schiff said.
The top Democrat on the committee called for Republicans to apologize to Clinton on Sunday after the CIA said the former secretary of state had not sent classified information from her private email server.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., wrote a letter to committee chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., saying that the CIA had debunked Gowdy’s claims that Clinton sent emails with “some of the most protected information in our intelligence community, the release of which could jeopardize not only national security but human lives.”
“The problem with your accusation — as with so many others during this investigation — is that you failed to check your facts before you made it, and the CIA has now informed the select committee that you were wrong. I believe your accusations were irresponsible, and I believe you owe the secretary an immediate apology,” Cummings wrote.
The CIA told the committee this weekend that they do not consider the information Gowdy referenced to be classified.
Cummings wrote that the incorrect information was a result of Republicans rushing to put out a critique of Clinton to “counter the public firestorm” caused by Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, D-Calif., saying that the committee was designed to hurt Clinton’s poll numbers.
