Under fire from Democrats and members of his own party for an investigation many believe is redundant and politically-motivated, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) defended the work of his U.S. House Select Committee on the Benghazi — by slamming his GOP colleagues’ previous work.
“You will hear there were previous investigations into Benghazi,” he predicted in his opening statement Thursday, prior to questioning former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, “and that is true.”
But, the chairman continued, “It should make you wonder why those investigations failed to interview so many witnesses and access so many documents.”
“If those previous Congressional investigations were really serious and thorough,” he asked, “How did they miss Ambassador Stevens’ emails? If those previous investigations were serious and thorough, how did they miss Secretary Clinton’s emails? If those Congressional investigations really were serious and thorough, why did they fail to interview dozens of key State Department witnesses, including agents on the ground who experienced the attacks?”
Of the seven previous investigations, two were bipartisan investigations conducted by the U.S. Senate. But the majority were GOP-led investigations by Gowdy’s fellow Congressional Republicans.
They included the House Committee on Armed Services, chaired by then-Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA), the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, chaired by Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA); the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, lead by then-Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI); the House Committee on the Judiciary, chaired by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA); and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform committee, chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)
When he announced that he was appointed Gowdy’s Benghazi committee, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) praised the five other investigations for their “extraordinary work, using their subpoena power, holding dozens of hearings, and conducting hundreds of interviews.”
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