United States House Select Committee on Benghazi

36 on January 18, 2013, with 192 co-sponsoring House members, to establish a "select committee to investigate and report on the attack on the United States consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

"[7][8] In late April 2014, Judicial Watch—a conservative activist group that describes itself as an "educational foundation" concerned with "transparency, accountability and integrity in government"[9]—made public previously-unreleased White House emails showing administration adviser Ben Rhodes coordinating a public response strategy after the attack for then-United Nations ambassador for the U.S., Susan E. Rice, recommending she emphasize the attack was "rooted in an Internet video, and not a broader failure of policy.

"[7] The email was part of materials, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, that were more comprehensive than those the White House had given congressional panels.

[10] A person whom Roll Call identified as a "senior GOP leadership aide" stated that this had been "the straw that broke the camel's back" for Boehner.

Only seven Democrats "broke ranks" to vote with the majority party to establish the select committee: Ron Barber of Arizona, John Barrow of Georgia, Mike McIntyre of North Carolina, Patrick Murphy of Florida, Collin Peterson of Minnesota, Nick Rahall of West Virginia, and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.

[25] In his first personnel move, Gowdy selected Philip Kiko as majority chief of staff—a former aide to James Sensenbrenner, Republican from Wisconsin, when he was chair of the House Judiciary Committee.

Aides for Boehner and Pelosi engaged in discussions over how the committee would operate, points of contention being shared authority to issue subpoenas, interview witnesses, and determine what can be released to the public.

"[30] By some reports, supporters of Hillary Clinton—Secretary of State at the time of the attacks, and possible presidential candidate in 2016—urged Democrats to participate fully in the committee to better counteract possible Republican criticism of her.

During that timeframe, a single January hearing was held, interviewing State Department legislative liaison Joel Rubin and CIA representative Neil Higgins.

[37] Of the committee's lack of progress, Cummings said, in mid-2015, "After a full year, it now seems obvious that this investigation is being dragged out in order to attack Secretary Clinton and her campaign for president—squandering millions of taxpayer dollars in the process.

[37] Committee chairman Trey Gowdy released a 15-page "interim progress report"[39] May 8, 2015, stating: "This Committee has interviewed eyewitnesses never before interviewed, obtained tens-of-thousands of pages of documents never before provided, and reviewed new information central to the investigation such as FBI reports specific to the interrogation and prosecution of (Benghazi attack suspect) Abu Khattala."

"[39] In face of criticism regarding the slow pace of the investigation, Gowdy promised: While our investigatory approach has uncovered new witnesses, new documents, new facts and will result in the most detailed and complete accounting of what happened in Benghazi, the frustration that some feel at not seeing the work unfold on television or reading about new discoveries in print is understandable .

The approach we are taking, while short on drama, aims to discover all of the relevant facts and to be long on credibility when the final report is written.

[40]In response to delays on questioning Clinton, Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the panel, said that "the Select Committee comes up with a new excuse to further delay its work", and that "Republicans are desperately trying to validate the $3 million in taxpayer funds they have spent over the past year, but they have nothing to show for it other than a partisan attack against Secretary Clinton and her campaign for president.

The emails in question had not been included among those the State Department had provided earlier to Congress in answer to the Committee's subpoena (even though Secretary Clinton had maintained earlier that all her official government emails had been turned over to the Department before the hard drive of her private server was erased by the Clintons), but copies were instead obtained from Blumenthal from his files.

Members expressed concerns that his work with Brock's liberal advocacy and media groups, and the financial interests he held at the time in several contract proposals under consideration for Benghazi, may have presented problems when he was simultaneously sending political and messaging guidance to Clinton.

"[45] Brock of Media Matters portrayed the line of questioning as more focused on his organization's attempt to refute "false claims" about Benghazi than about the attacks themselves[44] and said of the Committee's session, "Despite the fact that the conclusions of nine congressional committee reports and the findings from an independent review board don't support his political agenda, Chairman Gowdy keeps doubling down and expanding his taxpayer funded fishing expedition in the hopes of undermining Secretary Clinton's presidential campaign.

... [They] "spent hours asking me questions about things that had nothing to do with Benghazi," adding, "I hope I have cleared up the series of misconceptions some members of the committee may have held.

[48] As Democrats considered filing a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics,[49] Louise Slaughter introduced an amendment to end the committee, which was defeated in a party-line vote.

"[52] Also, Richard Hanna, a Republican representative from New York,[53] and conservative pundit Bill O'Reilly acknowledged the partisan nature of the committee.

The serious questions Secretary Clinton faces are due entirely to her own decision to put classified information at risk and endanger our national security.

[58] In January 2023, Podliska provided evidence of his claims in his book, Fire Alarm: The Investigation of the U.S. House Select Committee on Benghazi.

Using qualitative and quantitative methods, Podliska applied a new partisan model to explain that the Speaker of the House John Boehner selected committee members and staff based on party loyalty and “to ensure execution of party strategy.” Podliska detailed how Clinton was over emphasized at the expense of the White House, Department of Defense, and Intelligence Community.

Podliska then provided evidence and analysis to determine who was responsible for U.S. policy in Libya, who wrote the Obama administration’s post-attack narrative, and why the military failed to perform a timely rescue.

[61] The New York Times reported that "the long day of often-testy exchanges between committee members and their prominent witness revealed little new information about an episode that has been the subject of seven previous investigations ... Perhaps stung by recent admissions that the pursuit of Mrs. Clinton's emails was politically motivated, Republican lawmakers on the panel for the most part avoided any mention of her use of a private email server.

"[61] The email issue did arise shortly before lunch, in "a shouting match" between Republican committee chair Trey Gowdy and two Democrats, Adam B. Schiff and Elijah E.

[64] Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the Benghazi committee, came to Clinton's defense during the hearing, apologizing to her for his colleagues who suggested that she did not care for the people who died on her watch.

[66] In the end, the biggest revelation unearthed by the House special committee investigating the Benghazi attack came 15 months ago: the disclosure that Hillary Clinton had used a private email address and server during her four years as secretary of state.

[67] On February 13, 2015, the State Department produced 300 emails to and from Clinton, in response to a November 18, 2014, Committee request for the entirety of communications to and from the Secretary and her top staff.

"[68] On March 2, 2015, The New York Times reported Clinton may have violated federal regulations by using her personal email account (hdr22@clintonemail.com) for public business while serving as secretary of state.