John Boehner makes Ted Cruz's day by forming select committee on #Benghazi
In what may be the first ever Congressional committee formed exclusively to investigate a hashtag, multiple reporters (Sam Stein, Chuck Todd, and Dana Bash) are saying House Speaker John Boehner has decided to create a House Select Committee to investigate Benghazi. According to the reports, the committee will be chaired by Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, who, among other things, has the most amazing hair in Congress.
As you might expect, shadow House Speaker Ted Cruz is thrilled:
About time! http://t.co/... Let's find out the truth about what happened in #Benghazi!
� @SenTedCruz
Republicans are expected to formally announce the committee later today. As to why they are creating the committee, they will point to a recently released email from White House Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes in which Rhodes listed talking points for then-U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice's Sunday show appearances following the attack in Benghazi. Rhodes' email, which was not exclusively about Benghazi, said Rice should communicate that anti-American activities in the Middle East were a result of a video and not a result of a broader failure of U.S. policy.
Republicans believe that the email is a new piece of evidence proving that the White House doctored talking points in the wake of Benghazi in order to steal the election from Mitt Romney. It's true that the talking points were based on inaccurate information, but as Dave Weigel has pointed out, they were consistent with information coming from the CIA to the White House. Moreover, it's absurd to claim that the Rice's Sunday show appearance was the deciding factor in the 2012 election, especially in light of Mitt Romney's incredible and repeated bungling of Benghazi from a political perspective.
Republicans will also probably cite testimony this week from Brigadier Gen. Robert Lovell who said that he knew instantly the attack in Benghazi was not a result of a protest or video and was unhappy that we did not mobilize a military response to save the lives of the Americans who were killed in Bengahzi. They are highlighting Lovell because they believe he adds credibility to their argument that President Obama (and his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton) willfully allowed the Americans to die by refusing to order a mission to save them.
What they won't say is that Lovell was in Germany at the time of the attacks and had no special knowledge about what was going on in Benghazi�and that he also doesn't have any belief that a specific course of action would have saved any lives. As retiring Republican House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon said: "Lovell did not further the investigation or reveal anything new." But the notion that the commander in chief is responsible for the deaths of Americans is too juicy for them to pass up, so they will pursue it for as long as they possibly can.
The new committee will cost taxpayers millions of dollars, adding to the millions that the GOP's probes have already cost.
The only thing worse than a liberal is a liberal that thinks they're a conservative.
