If it was the GOP’s intention to use the 2012 attacks on the U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi, Libya, as a means of damaging Hillary Clinton's credibility during her bid for the Presidency, it did a bad job.
Shortly into her testimony today before the House Select Committee on Benghazi, what we already suspected was quickly confirmed: the Committee is a sham, a poorly-veiled partisan witch-hunt against the former Secretary of State that has for 17 months been masquerading as an "investigation.”
The newest Benghazi panel — the eighth now — cost the taxpayers about $4.7 million. And, big surprise: today they spent most of their time asking Clinton many of the same questions she already answered during her testimony at the Benghazi panel two years ago.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R. OH) hit Clinton repeatedly for her 2012 statements regarding reasons for the attack, resulting in a pointed retort that “I'm sorry that it doesn't fit your narrative, Congressman. I can only tell you what the facts were.”
Rep. Trey Gowdy (R, SC), a former prosecutor who Chairs the committee, chose to ignore the events surrounding the attack altogether and instead focused on emails exchanged between Clinton and journalist Sidney Blumenthal.
Rep. Mike Pompeo (R, KS) asked Clinton why her staffers weren't fired after the attack.
Rep. Peter Roskam (R,IL) hammered Clinton on her foreign policy. Hilariously — and without a note of intended irony — Roskam also suggested Clinton had used the Benghazi incident for political gain.
Most damaging of all, however, is the notion that apparently it never dawned on the Committee that Clinton excels in the hot seat. They gave her a golden PR opportunity today, a means of establishing her credibility and showcasing her ability to lead at the best possible time in the Presidential race.
Clinton essentially turned today's event into a campaign stop. She exhibited emotion while describing the night of the attack. She appeared poised, calculating, cool under pressure, human. The House Committee is handing her the party nomination on live television as I type this.
Commenting today on the testimony, the New Republic’s Brian Beutler said, "the overriding theme thus far has been the GOP’s palpable awareness that this isn’t going particularly well, and that they’d do better not to serve up anything she could flip to her advantage."
The House Select Committee on Benghazi has been in shambles for some time. Things really fell apart on Sept. 29, when House Majority Leader and former Speaker of the House hopeful Kevin McCarthy (R, CA) delivered the gaffe of all gaffes, telling Sean Hannity that the latest Benghazi investigation was devised for the purpose of hurting Clinton in the polls.
This comment irreparably damaged the Committee’s credibility, and resulted in such fierce blowback from both parties that it ruined McCarthy’s bid to fill John Boehner’s Speaker seat. The New York Times editorial board in early October called on Republicans to disband the Committee, referring to it as a "laughable crusade" and a "charade" that has lost "any semblance of credibility." Again, Clinton used the event to her advantage: McCarthy's admission became the focus of a major TV ad for her campaign.
A second Republican Congressman, Richard Hanna (R, NY) later admitted during a radio interview on "Keeler in the Morning" that McCarthy had told the truth about the Committee’s intention. Then, Bradley Podliska, an Air Force Reserve major and former Committee staffer, blew the whistle when he confirmed that the Committee was less interested in a fact-finding mission into the circumstances surrounding the Benghazi attack than it was focused on Clinton’s use of her email. Podliska later went to the media and claimed Committee members spent their working days drinking wine or at a gun club.
Finally, Wayne Simmons, an "expert" who made frequent appearances on Fox News to peddle baseless Benghazi conspiracy theories (and also called for the Committee's initial formation), was discovered to be a fraud, and was arrested this month by the U.S. Attorney's Office for falsely claiming to be a CIA operative.
A CNN/ORC poll released today found that 72 percent of Americans now believe the House Select Committee on Benghazi used the attacks for political gain.
Husch Blackwell Strategies has added FleishmanHillard alum Michael Slatin as a principal in its public affairs group.
Rory Cooper, a veteran Republican operative and policy specialist, has joined Teneo’s Washington office as senior managing director in its strategy & communications practice.
Brian Fallon, who served as national press secretary for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential run, is signing on next month as Vice President’s Kamala Harris’ campaign communications director.
TikTok is nothing more than a Chinese propaganda tool that poses “a grave threat to America’s national security and, in particular, impressionable children and young adults,” say two Congressmen who want the platform registered as a foreign agent.
Public Strategies Washington has added Abbie Sorrendino, a former aide to now Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
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