Key Democratic Congressman Skewers Benghazi Committee Says Time To Shut It Down

Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff (CA-28), a member of the Select Committee on Benghazi, wrote a blistering op-ed in the September 4th edition of The New York Times, calling for the Select Committee to be disbanded.

Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, slammed House Republicans for turning the Benghazi investigation into a partisan charade, whose sole purpose has become undermining Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. Schiff blasted House Republicans for resorting to deception and innuendo to imply that Hillary Clinton should somehow be held responsible for the Benghazi terrorist attacks.

Calling for the Select Committee to be discontinued, Schiff noted:

Since its formation, the Select Committee on Benghazi has been aimless and slow moving, not knowing what it was looking for or where. It has acted in a deeply partisan way, frequently failing to consult or even to inform Democratic members before taking action, and selectively leaking information to the press. After 16 months and more than $4 million, the committee has gained no additional insight into the attacks in Benghazi. It has nothing new to tell the families of those killed or the American people.

To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.

After noting that the committee had essentially wasted 16 months and 4 millions dollars, Schiff honed in on the reason, arguing:

Whatever their original purpose, the Select Committee’s leaders appear no longer to have any interest in Benghazi, except as the tragic events of that day may be used as a cudgel against the likely Democratic nominee for president.

The committee is solely concerned with damaging her candidacy, searching for something, anything, that can be insinuated against her. With all of the committee’s obsessive focus on Mrs. Clinton, you would think that she was a witness to the killings, instead of half a world away.

He finished his op-ed, driving his point home one last time, by stating:

A committee that cannot tell the American people what it is looking for after 16 months should be shut down. Otherwise, Benghazi will come to be remembered not for the tragedy that claimed four American lives, but for the terrible abuse of process that now bears its name.

In his passionate op-ed, Schiff spoke a fundamental truth that many Americans have already figured out. The Select Committee on Benghazi has becoming nothing more than a political arm of the Republican Party, campaigning to defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016. The Republicans on the committee are not interested in finding truth, they are simply determined to paint Hillary Clinton as a villain and to use relentless mentioning of “Benghazi, Benghazi” as their cudgel. The strategy seems to be failing. Yet, because the GOP has almost nothing positive to offer voters, they will undoubtedly continue to try to use the Select Committee on Benghazi as a partisan tool to malign Hillary Clinton. Good luck with that.

Keith Brekhus

Keith Brekhus is a progressive American who currently resides in Red Lodge, Montana. He is co-host for the Liberal Fix radio show. He holds a Master’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Missouri. In 2002, he ran for Congress as a Green Party candidate in the state of Missouri. In 2014, he worked as a field organizer for Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick’s successful re-election bid in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District. He can be followed on Twitter @keithbrekhus or on Facebook.