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Thursday, October 15, 2015

Congressman John Conyers Says it's Time for Benghazi Committee to Shut Down

The Congressman lays it out well.

"The Benghazi Committee Should Stop Wasting Time and Taxpayer Money."

"Nearly fifteen years ago, the Independent Counsel Law lapsed after controversies concerning overzealous prosecutors like Kenneth Starr -- who had an unlimited budget and little accountability. Today, we face a similar specter of an untethered investigation: the so-called "Select Committee on Benghazi."

"On May 8, 2014, the House of Representatives established the Committee and authorized it to investigate the September 11, 2012 attack on United States facilities in Benghazi, Libya. The Committee was created even though the Benghazi incident had already been thoroughly investigated by seven other congressional committees and an independent Accountability Review Board, none of which found evidence of wrongdoing by American officials."

"Nearly every Democrat, myself included, voted against the resolution authorizing the Select Committee. I did so because I believed it was time to look forward, not backward. I believed it was time to work on implementing the many recommendations coming out of these prior investigations in order to enhance the safety of diplomats serving overseas. Many of us also believed that the real reason behind the establishment of the Select Committee was to target former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who, at that time, was rumored to be considering a presidential run."

"Unfortunately, our fears have proven to be well-founded. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) recently admitted during a Fox News interview that "... we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping..." McCarthy, the one-time presumed replacement for House Speaker, has since removed himself from that race, admitting at a press conference that his Benghazi statement "didn't help" his chances of assuming that role."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-conyers/benghazi-committee_b_8296042.html

But here is what else is interesting. As Congressman Conyers documents, the GOP itself has handled potentially classified information in a an unsecured server.

"First, the Select Committee itself mishandled classified materials transmitted by email. On August 21, the New York Times, Politico, and others reported that the Select Committee had handled several classified emails on a unsecure system. Given the uncertainty of the classification process -- these emails appear not to have been deemed classified when the Select Committee first possessed them -- I cannot presume any bad faith on the part of Select Committee. However, the incident highlights the open-ended and malleable nature of the panel's investigation, given that substantially identical allegations -- retaining an email subsequently designated as classified after receipt on an unsecure server -- has been leveled by Select Committee Republicans at Secretary Clinton."

"The aftermath of the disclosure also illustrates the problems with the Committee's lack of transparency. While the Minority staff for the Select Committee acknowledged that they were "instructed that it needed to move the document from unclassified computer systems and files to classified computer systems and files," the Majority has as of yet failed to acknowledge the discrepancy. Their spokesperson was only willing to acknowledge that its "system and server for handling classified information in electronic format was subjected to and passed a year of painstaking planning, documentation, and review by numerous security and IT professionals in the Intelligence Community." Left unsaid was why the Select Committee was pursuing a charge against Secretary Clinton -- the good faith retention of subsequently reclassified emails -- that seems to apply equally to themselves."

"Second, the Select Committee appears to have intentionally leaked classified information for political ends. We know that one of the emails highlighted as inappropriate for Secretary Clinton to have on her unsecured server was leaked to theNew York Times in full, unredacted form in May. This was followed by a false and inaccurate leak to the New York Times in late July, suggesting that Secretary Clinton was a target of a criminal referral by the Inspector General. These leaks are hard to square with Select Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy's statement that "serious investigations do not leak information or make selective releases of information without full and proper context." Yet, as it presently stands, there is no avenue to obtain accountability by the Select Committee on this or any other matter, just as there has been no accounting for the millions of dollars in taxpayer funds it has spent or how little work it has performed."

"The disclosure that the Select Committee appears to have retained classified emails on a unsecure server, Rep. McCarthy's blunt admission that the Select Committee is merely a taxpayer-funded political ploy, and the latest revelation of partisan inner workings by a former investigator offers Majority leadership a chance to step back and recognize that its mandate has been long satisfied. I know Chairman Gowdy to be a fair and principled Member, and would therefore urge him to dissolve the Select Committee and get back to doing the business of the American people. As presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders stated to Secretary Clinton last night, "The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails!"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-conyers/benghazi-committee_b_8296042.html

Yet another reason we need a new Committee to investigate the Benghazi Committee!

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