Benghazi Committee Member Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) used his time to level Republicans with some facts about their Benghazi investigation.
Video:
https://youtu.be/ayyZZfEbquc
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Rep. Schiff said:
There are too many good prosecutors on this panel not to know that when a lawyer describes the metrics of the success of the investigation by the sheer number of people they talked to or the volume of documents and says nothing about the substance of what they’ve learned that there is a problem.
And the reality is that after seventeen months, we have nothing new to tell the families. We have nothing new to tell the American people.
….
Now my colleagues have been saying quite often this week that this is a fact-centric investigation, and I agree so I’d like to talk about some of the facts which are centric about this investigation. Because while the American people are entitled to truth about Benghazi, they are also entitled to the truth about our committee.
Fact. What gave rise to your appearance today was that many months ago a group called the Stop Hillary PAC, which aired an offensive ad during the Democratic debate showing the tombstone of Ambassador Stevens among other things, delivered 264,000 signatures demanding that you appear before us.
Fact. It was the next day the majority approached us to have you come before this committee.
Fact. After The New York Times issued its story in March, this committee canceled all other hearings except for the hearing with a witness named Clinton.
Fact. We abandoned our plans to bring in the Secretary of Defense and the head of the CIA.
Fact. We haven’t had a single hearing with the Department of Defense in seventeen months.
Fact. Of the 70,000 pages of documents obtained by the committee, the only documents the Chairman has chosen to release publicly are your emails with Sidney Blumenthal.
Fact. Of the 32 press releases that have been issued since March of this year, 27 of them are about you or the State Department and 5 are about everything else.
Fact. As recently as last week, the Chairman issued a 13-page letter which alleges that you risked the lives of people by sending an email that contained the name of a classified CIA source.
Fact. CIA told us there was nothing in that email was classified nor was the name of that person who’s well known to many.
Rep. Schiff summed up why this whole Select Committee is a sham, and added that it is unlikely that the Republicans will consult with Democrats on the final report. He said that the actions of the Committee were most damning of all because they focused on Hillary Clinton.
Chairman Trey Gowdy interrupted Schiff to throw a tantrum by claiming that he is out to get the facts, and no judgements have been made. Gowdy tried to hide behind the families of the Benghazi victims, but he provided no answers to Rep. Schiff’s claims.
The Benghazi Select Committee has no credibility. Rep. Schiff turned the Republican talking point about facts around and used it against the GOP to prove that the hearing is an empty partisan fishing expedition that is designed to harm Hillary Clinton’s presidential candidacy.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
