The Democrats released their own findings, independently of any forthcoming report from Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and the other Republicans on the panel.
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The State Department’s security measures in Benghazi were woefully inadequate as a result of decisions made by officials in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, but Secretary Clinton never personally denied any requests for additional security in Benghazi.
“Congress should not establish or use future investigative select committees or panels for political purposes including to impact elections or to raise campaign funds”, the report said.
Democrats tied a Republican investigation into the fatal attack in Benghazi, Libya, to presidential candidate Donald Trump on Monday, working to taint the inquiry as a partisan smear of their own candidate, Hillary Clinton.
The Democrats said that the “assessments and information” that the CIA and other intelligence agencies provided to USA government officials “evolved” after the attacks but were not influenced by the upcoming 2012 presidential election or any other political factors.
“We hope our report will put to rest the conspiracy theories about Benghazi once and for all and return the focus to where it belongs – on the goal of improving the security of Americans serving overseas”, according to the 339-page report released Monday. It argues that the Pentagon could not have done anything on the night of the attacks in Benghazi on September 11, 2012, that would have saved the lives of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
Despite the ARB’s finding that Department leadership was to blame for “grossly inadequate” security, the report still concluded that Clinton herself was not at fault, instead placing the blame on Diplomatic Security’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Programs, Charlene Lamb. In areas where US measures were deemed inadequate, the report shifted blame away from Hillary Clinton, even when the State Department was found to be responsible.
Democrats say the cause of the attacks “remains unclear to this day”.
Aides to Gowdy and the majority staff did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Gowdy, a South Carolina Republican, noted a May 13th report in The Wall Street Journal which cited four occasions in which the State Department withheld documents from investigators because of “institutional interests” and “confidentiality”.
“For over two years they refused to participate in the majority’s serious, fact-centered investigation”, Committee Press Secretary Matt Wolking said in a statement. This investigation is about the four courageous Americans we lost in Libya: “Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods, and Glen Doherty”, Wolking said. The dishonest Democrats on this committee falsely claimed everything had been “asked and answered.’ They said the committee had found ‘absolutely nothing new.’ If that’s changed, they should come clean and admit it. If not, everyone can ignore their rehashed, partisan talking points defending their endorsed candidate for president”, Wolking said, referring to Clinton.
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“Decades in the future, historians will look back on this investigation as a case study in how not to conduct a credible investigation”, the Democratic members wrote.
