Rep. Trey Gowdy is not pleased with the federal government.
The South Carolina Republican and chairman of the Select Committee on Benghazi believes the investigation into the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack would be done “much sooner” than 2016 had the government been more cooperative to document requests.
Specifically, President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry could have helped speed the process up, he said.
“If they sen[d] a message to the folks that are reviewing our document request, give these folks what they need to complete their report or give them a legal reason why you’re not going to, but quit playing this game about asking for priorities and ‘what do you need first?’ and ‘are you sure you really need it?’ ” he said Wednesday on Fox News. Give ’em what they ask for — this would be done much sooner than 2016 if they’d do it.”
A committee spokesman said Wednesday the investigation could take until 2016, with the findings to be released right before the election. Democrats have said the committee is waiting so long to release the findings until election season to attempt to politically hurt former secretary of state and Democratic presidential nominee frontrunner Hillary Clinton.
Gowdy denied such charges, saying he wants the findings done as soon as possible, regardless of what is in them.
“I want it done before 2016 and to that end, we’re doing four witness interviews a week whereas we were doing two,” he said. “That’s ambitious for a staff our size — four. We’re trying to accelerate it, but I’ve got to have the documents.”
“I hope it doesn’t come out in 2016, period. I hope we’re done before the end of this year. And I say hope because there are certain variables that I cannot control,” he added.
