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In the wake of Speaker-in-waiting Kevin McCarthy’s deliberate boast that the House Select Committee on Benghazi was directly responsible for Hillary Clinton’s polling numbers, here are a few updates.

Kevin McCarthy is a fairly common Irish name.  Some may remember that the reason former Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy ran for Congress was because in 1993 Colin Ferguson opened fire on a LIRR commuter train killing her husband Dennis and injuring and disabling her son, Kevin McCarthy. Six were killed and 19 were injured in that attack, and Rep. McCarthy ran on a gun control platform.  Carolyn served from 1997 until January of this year.  Her legacy on gun control in the House is a topic for another day. Her son happens to share a name with a former colleague of hers.  So does this guy whose Twitter account suffered a major onslaught.

Hillary’s Campaign has a video message from a Kevin McCarthy in Iowa.

@KevinMcCarthy is just a normal guy from Iowa, but lately he’s been receiving a lot of tweets because another Kevin McCarthy, the Republican speaker-in-waiting to the House of Representatives, recently confirmed that the committee investigating Benghazi is just a partisan effort to derail Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

 

Even the New York Times, which has faced its own honesty challenges regarding Hillary during this enormous abuse of power, is now calling for a dismantling of the committee.  Failing dissolution, they have a suggestion for a new name.

The Opinion Pages | Editorial

Shut Down the Benghazi Committee

By THE EDITORIAL BOARDOCT. 7, 2015

House Republicans may be disinclined to disband the Select Committee on Benghazi with the presidential race heating up. But at the very least they should rename their laughable crusade, which has cost taxpayers $4.6 million, “the Inquisition of Hillary Rodham Clinton.”

Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, a leading candidate to become the next speaker of the House, acknowledged last week that was the point of burrowing into the details of the 2012 attacks on government facilities in eastern Libya that killed the American ambassador and three colleagues.

SNIP

Mrs. Clinton is scheduled to testify before the committee on Oct. 22. The hearing will give Republicans another chance to attack the credibility and trustworthiness of the leading Democratic presidential candidate. It will do nothing to make American embassies abroad safer or help the relatives of the four killed in Libya.

The hearing should be the last salvo for a committee that has accomplished nothing. If the Republicans insist on keeping the process alive, the Democrats should stop participating in this charade.

Read more >>>>

Meanwhile, as noted here, Democrats on the committee are planning on releasing full transcripts of testimony as they explained in their letter of 10/05 to committee chair Trey Gowdy.

Read the Letter from Benghazi Select Committee Democrats to Trey Gowdy

October 5, 2015

There are several stories out there about the letter sent by Democrats on the Benghazi Select Committee to committee chair, Trey Gowdy.  Since, if possible, we like to see primary source material, here is the letter under the official letterhead of Ranking Minority Member Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland.

Read on >>>>

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives at a campaign event in Davenport, Iowa October 6, 2015. REUTERS/Jim Young

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives at a campaign event in Davenport, Iowa October 6, 2015. REUTERS/Jim Young

 

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So Jason Chaffetz wants (and gets!) an apology from the Secret Service for disclosing details related to his rejected application to join the force,  but the newly transparent Republican Party feels no such compunction to apologize to Hillary Clinton for investing $4.5 million and more than a year trying to damage Hillary’s reputation.  That, of course, was the purpose of the committee, and when it was articulated by majority leader and Speaker-in-waiting, Kevin McCarthy, the remark was intended as an indication of success in getting stuff done by the majority party.

In the public interest, this is what your $4.5 million tax dollars have gone to finance.

The Select Committee on Benghazi has a website.  These are the members.

 

This is the stated scope and mission of the Select Committee.

About the Select Committee

On May 8, 2014, the House of Representatives adopted H. Res. 567, Providing for the Establishment of the Select Committee on the Events Surrounding the 2012 Terrorist Attack in Benghazi, Libya. (Roll Call Vote 209)

The Select Committee is authorized and directed to conduct a full and complete investigation and study and issue a final report of its findings to the House regarding–

  1. All policies, decisions, and activities that contributed to the attacks on United States facilities in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012, as well as those that affected the ability of the United States to prepare for the attacks;
  2. All policies, decisions, and activities to respond to and repel the attacks on United States facilities in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012, including efforts to rescue United States personnel;
  3. Internal and public executive branch communications about the attacks on United States facilities in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012;
  4. Accountability for policies and decisions related to the security of facilities in Benghazi, Libya, and the response to the attacks, including individuals and entities responsible for those policies and decisions;
  5. Executive branch authorities’ efforts to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators of the attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012;
  6. Executive branch activities and efforts to comply with Congressional inquiries into the attacks on United States facilities in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012;
  7. Recommendations for improving executive branch cooperation and compliance with congressional oversight and investigations;
  8. Information related to lessons learned from the attacks and executive branch activities and efforts to protect United States facilities and personnel abroad; and
  9. Any other relevant issues relating to the attacks, the response to the attacks, or the investigation by the House of Representatives into the attacks.

Number 9 looks like a catch-all item meant to license anything related in any kind of webby way, and, of course, “relevant” is not defined and obviously is left to the discretion of members.

Here are the hearings.

Hearings

There are no hearings currently scheduled.

Past Hearings

Tue, 01/27/2015 – 10:30am
HVC-210, The Capitol

Subject Matter: Status Review of Outstanding Requests

Witnesses

Neil Higgins

Director of Congressional Affairs

Central Intelligence Agency

Joel Rubin

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs

Wed, 12/10/2014 – 10:00am
HVC-210

Topic: Reviewing Efforts to Secure U.S. Diplomatic Facilities and Personnel

Witnesses:

Greg Starr

Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security

Steve Linick

The Inspector General, Department of State

Wed, 09/17/2014 – 10:00am
HVC-210, Capitol Visitor Center

Topic: Implementation of the Accountability Review Board recommendations

One report has been issued.

Reports

H.Res. 567 authorizes and directs the Select Committee to conduct a full and complete investigation and study of the events surrounding the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi and issue a final report of its findings to the House.

The non classified versions of this final report, as well as any interim reports, will be published on this page.

May 8, 2015- Interim Progress Update

Statements can be accessed here >>>>

Republicans are tripping all over their own feet trying to walk back McCarthy’s assertion.  Three hearings, none since January 27, and one interim report from May that is 15 pages long – that is what $4.5 million have bought.  Ten hearings have been canceled according to the July 15 letter from committee Democrats to the chairman.

In contrast, the current status of the Warren Commission Report is about 900 pages with 26 volumes of supporting material.  More will be released in 2017.

Has there been any Congressional endeavor as dysfunctional, wasteful, and disingenuous?  The only real inaccuracy in McCarthy’s statement is the damage to Hillary Clinton’s image.  We have known all along that the committee had a political mission and that Hillary was the target. The truth is that despite their expensive, extended efforts she is looking very good!

09-19-15-Z-09

McCarthy’s candidness is as refreshing as the toothpaste Republicans are trying to get back into the tube.  We just don’t want to buy any more toothpaste right now.
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Really?  I have to talk about this again?

I just did that YESTERDAY!   <<<<Please just go there to see the history on this (including the letter from the Democrats on the committee dated July 15). 

Hillary registers her distress.  I register my frustration.  Apparently it is not NEWS until we get it from a Republican. Democrats (and I) have been shouting into the wind evidently all these years. The evidence has been clear all along.  Just go back to yesterday’s post up there to see ↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑.

“Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping.”

– House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy 09/30/15

Hillary registered her distress speaking with Reverend Al on Politics Nation. The interview will air Sunday morning.

Transcript from David Wiegel at WaPo

SHARPTON:  Let me raise another issue.  House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, he said this week, quote — I’m quoting him — “Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers Friday? What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping.” That’s the quote.

CLINTON:  Um-hmm.

SHARPTON:  You’re expected to testify before the Benghazi Committee on October 22. What’s your response to McCarthy’s comments?

CLINTON:  I have to tell you, I find them deeply distressing. I knew the ambassador that we lost in Benghazi. Along with him, we lost three other brave Americans who were representing us in a very dangerous part of the world.

There have already been eight investigations in the Congress. One independent investigation. We have learned all we can learn about what we need to do to protect our diplomats and our other civilians and we need to be enforcing and implementing those changes, which is what I started and what Secretary Kerry has continued.

So when I hear a statement like that, which demonstrates unequivocally that this was always meant to be a partisan political exercise, I feel like it does a grave disservice and dishonors not just the memory of the four that we lost, but of everybody who has served our country.

We’ve had lots of different situations, as you know so well. We’ve had embassies run over. We’ve had them blown up under Ronald Reagan, under Bill Clinton. We’ve had lots of attacks where we lost Americans or foreigners working for America, under George W. Bush. We can go back and there’s a wall in the State Department, there’s a wall in the CIA where we lost those civilians we lost.

It’s never been turned into a partisan political battle by the majority in Congress the way the Republicans in this Congress have done. And I just wish that they would really start tending to the people’s business, deal with the many problems that we face and figure out how we’re going to move our country forward.

You know, I — I really regret the way that they have treated this serious matter.

SHARPTON: There’s a lot of cynicism, a lot of people don’t trust what’s going on in government. Does this add to it, when you hear a statement by the majority leader? Does this add to the kind of cynicism that many of us are trying to counter?

CLINTON: I think it does. I mean when this happened, I immediately said, I want an independent review board. I want to know everything that we could have done differently. I want to change the procedures. I took responsibility because I wanted us to get to the bottom of what we could understand about that attack.

And that’s been my position from the very beginning. When I was asked to testify before this committee, it was after a year of my asking to go testify, because I said I’d be willing to go. I hope they actually ask me about Benghazi and what happened and what we need to do better to protect our people while we still are in dangerous parts of the world.

mccarthy

This just in.

Wednesday, September, 30th, 2015

After Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) admitted that Republicans lied about the purpose of the Benghazi investigation, several top Democrats are calling out the House Republicans’ abuse of power and calling for an immediate end to the investigation

SNIP

The ranking member of the Select Committee on Benghazi, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) said, “This stunning concession from Rep. McCarthy reveals the truth that Republicans never dared admit in public: the core Republican goal in establishing the Benghazi Committee was always to damage Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and never to conduct an even-handed search for the facts. It is shameful that Republicans have used this tragedy and the deaths of our fellow Americans for political gain. Republicans have blatantly abused their authority in Congress by spending more than $4.5 million in taxpayer funds to pay for a political campaign against Hillary Clinton.”

SNIP

Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) called for an immediate end to the Benghazi investigation and for Republicans to apologize to the families of the Benghazi victims, “Republican Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy pulled the curtain back on the true purpose of the Select Committee on Benghazi – not to get the facts – but instead as a political ploy against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. This stunning admission shows a gross misuse of millions in taxpayer dollars for a purely political purpose. I believe it is time to end this investigation and for Speaker Boehner, Majority Leader McCarthy, and Chairman Trey Gowdy to apologize to the families of the four Americans who died during the attack and the American people for abusing the memories of Ambassador Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods.”

Read more >>>>

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