Good Day World!
After seven prior GOP fueled Benghazi investigations, the Republicans think the eighth time will be the charm – and they’ll be able to pin the whole sorry affair on Hillary Clinton.
The current special House committee looking into the deadly Benghazi, Libya, attacks in 2012 plans to interview a host of officials soon.
The panel's chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., said Friday he intends to interview 20 high-ranking officials, including former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and former CIA director David Petraeus, as well as White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and national security adviser Susan Rice.
Gowdy also plans to interview former UN Ambassador Thomas Pickering and Adm. Mike Mullen, who chaired an independent panel that reviewed the September 2012 attacks, which killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
Pickering was President George H.W. Bush's U.N. envoy, and Mullen was the top U.S. general under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.(source)
Their report harshly criticized the State Department for its security posture in the months before militants stormed the Benghazi facility. But House GOP members said their review was incomplete and lacked independence.
How convenient.
Now, after seven prior hearings (without a smoking gun) what does the GOP expect to hear that will be different this time? A majority of the 20 people named as likely witnesses have already provided information to Congress through prior interviews and testimony.
How much is this latest go-around costing taxpayers? The panel spent nearly $1.8 million last year and is on pace to spend more than $3 million this year.
That total is more than several House committees with legislative and oversight jurisdictions and is larger than the amount House Republicans allocated to investigate Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
And for what?
A pathetic partisan strategy aimed at discrediting Clinton. It’s worth millions of taxpayer dollars to the GOP to keep the merry-go-round spinning. At least, until the 2016 presidential elections are over.
Time for me to walk on down the road…