This figure does not include significant expenditures made by the State Department and Defense Department to find and declassify material requested by the committee or the expense of witness travel for those who work for the government.
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The committee claims it also fired Podliska in part because he mishandled classified information, which Podliska has called “a complete and total fabrication”.
“Until his Friday conversations with media, this staffer has never mentioned Secretary Clinton as a cause of his termination”, House Benghazi committe chairman Trey Gowdy said of Bradley Podliska. And I know I could give those victims’ families an explanation, a pretty thorough explanation, of why they were told that this attack was due to a video. “The victims’ families are not going to get the truth and that’s the most unfortunate thing about this”.
Emily Schillinger, a spokeswoman for Boehner, said in response to the ad: “This is a classic Clinton attempt to distract from her record of putting classified information at risk and jeopardizing our national security, all of which the FBI is investigating”.
The committee is chaired by Republican Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, a popular former prosecutor but hardly a figure on par with Clinton or Obama when it comes to power. He contended that another reason he was sacked was for taking leave because of a deployment; such a dismissal would be illegal.
Other Democrats were also quick to seize on Podliska’s accusations. Now, a Benghazi committee investigator says it’s all political. “In fact, throughout the pendency of an ongoing legal mediation, which is set to conclude October 13, this staffer has not mentioned Secretary Clinton. But that is the difference between journalism as practiced by CNN, and the fact-centric investigation being conducted by this Committee”, Gowdy said in the statement, according to CNN. He also rebuked Gowdy’s assertion that he never met Podliska, arguing that the two had interacted at least twice.
The select committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), stated: “These are extremely serious whistle-blower charges”.
“Hillary Clinton has a lot of explaining to do”, Mr. Podliska said on CNN.
The skirmish began over the weekend when Podliska alleged publicly that the committee improperly targeted Hillary Clinton in an effort to damage her politically. All the committee would care about is getting a look at the emails from her private server-which is now happening. “Her numbers are dropping”, McCarthy continued.
“You know, she made a mistake”. But there was something the Republican congressman told Fox News yesterday that struck a discordant note.
Gowdy, though, is fighting back. “It’s a tremendous red herring and a waste of taxpayer resources”, said House Intelligence Committee member Adam Schiff, after Speaker John Boehner announced he would establish a special committee to investigate the attack. The implication was that the committee tanked Clinton’s numbers and, as Clinton’s team would extend the implication, that the committee was created to do precisely that.
The night of the attack, Hillary Clinton issued a statement declaring, “Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet”. We, however, did not need to shift resources to hyper focus on Hillary Clinton … “Because we’ve had eight investigative hearings”. “There’s wrongdoing here and I think it needs to stop”, Podliska said, adding, “I’m scared”.
How Clinton’s e-mail scandal will affect questions about Benghazi, from CNN. What laws were violated?
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A timeline of the events of the Benghazi attack, from CNN.
