Boehner calls for select committee to investigate Benghazi

by Paul Mirengoff in Benghazigate, Obama Administration Scandals

Speaker Boehner announced today that he will ask the House to vote to create a new select committee to investigate the September 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi. Here is Boehner’s announcement:

Americans learned this week that the Obama Administration is so intent on obstructing the truth about Benghazi that it is even willing to defy subpoenas issued by the standing committees of the People’s House. These revelations compel the House to take every possible action to ensure the American people have the truth about the terrorist attack on our consulate that killed four of our countrymen. In light of these new developments, the House will vote to establish a new select committee to investigate the attack, provide the necessary accountability, and ensure justice is finally served.
The administration’s withholding of documents – emails showing greater White House involvement in misleading the American people – is a flagrant violation of trust and undermines the basic principles of oversight upon which our system of government is built. And it forces us to ask the question, what else about Benghazi is the Obama administration still hiding from the American people?
The House committees that have been investigating this attack have done extraordinary work, using their subpoena power, holding dozens of hearings, and conducting hundreds of interviews. Without this work we would not know much that we do today. But it’s clear that questions remain, and the administration still does not respect the authority of Congress to provide proper oversight. This dismissiveness and evasion requires us to elevate the investigation to a new level. I intend for this select committee to have robust authority, and I will expect it to work quickly to get answers for the American people and the families of the victims.
Four Americans died at the hands of terrorists nearly 20 months ago, and we are still missing answers, accountability, and justice. It’s time that change.

There is, of course, plenty to investigate. Subjects include: (1) the administration’s failure to beef up security in Libya before the attack, as those on the ground had requested, (2) the administration’s failure to deploy military assets stationed in Europe once the attack commenced, (3) the administration’s false and misleading statements about the cause and nature of the attack in the days following September 11, 2012, (4) the administration’s mistreatment of Benghazi whistleblowers, and (5) the administration’s ongoing failure to bring to justice those who participated in the murder of a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.
There is also the matter of (as Howard Baker would say) what did President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton know and when did they know it. Perhaps more importantly, what did they not do and why did they not do it.


http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/05/boehner-calls-for-select-committee-to-investigate-benghazi.php