Posted on 01/31/2015 7:17:53 AM PST by upchuck
A bitter partisan battle is developing among members of the House committee investigating the 2012 Benghazi attack chaired by Rep. Trey Gowdy and Democrats bent on limiting access to witnesses.
And a potential clash between Gowdy and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is waiting in the wings.
The Democratic members, headed by Maryland’s Elijah Cummings, seek veto power over the committee’s subpoenas and object to Gowdy’s examination of witnesses by only the GOP members.
The Democrats would rather debate the matter than hear what the witnesses have to say.
Gowdy, a former South Carolina prosecutor, knows that giving Democrats veto power over issuing subpoenas would mean no witnesses would be called at all.
“I am unwilling to let the minority party veto subpoenas when it is clear they have prejudged the outcome of the investigation,” Gowdy said, according to the Washington Examiner.
“The minority has repeatedly indicated it is unwilling to issue any subpoenas. If subpoenas are necessary for the committee to talk to relevant witnesses or access relevant documents, they will be issued.”
Gowdy is having none of it.
“But I will not allow the minority’s political games and unreasonable demands to interfere with the investigation,” he said. “The time for negotiations has passed, and the committee is moving on under the rules and scope approved by Congress.”
The most compelling witness would be Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state when the U.S. foreign mission in Benghazi was overrun by Islamic militants on Sept. 11, 2012.
Although she has testified on two previous occasions — once in each chamber of Congress — she indicated a willingness to appear before the special select committee, according to Cummings, who claimed he’d broached the subject to her last year.
“She immediately said she would do that and she wanted to come in December and then she said, ‘Well, if you can’t have me in December I’ll come in January.’ She said … ‘I’ll do it, period,’” Cummings said, according to CNN.
Gowdy has long expressed a desire to hear from Clinton, but not until the panel has had a chance to subpoena and review all relevant State Department documentation, including emails to and from Clinton and her own notes.
In June of last year, Clinton indicated to NBC News that she had taken numerous notes during the attack, but declined to say whether she’d be open to handing them over to the committee.
Gowdy’s position is that it’d be fruitless to have her testify before the panel has reviewed the documentation.
“We intend to access all of the information necessary to do the job the House instructed us to do,” Gowdy said in his opening statement at a committee meeting on Tuesday. “And we need to access that information now. Talking to only some of the witnesses will not work. Accessing only some of the documents will not work.
“If you want all of the truth, you need all of the information.”
Trey
Gowdy
Ping!
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She would be if she could actually remember anything that happened.
Who give a crap about Cummings or any of the others. Pack the committee with Rs and demand full en banc attendance by same. Then vote and report accordingly. Let Cummings go bleat to the MSM as he always does. Just don’t give him the opportunity to do it sitting down at a panel like his input is worth a crap.
I hope he exposes the dems for exactly what we all know here what they are.....
Could NOT come as a surprise. The real, and I mean the REAL truth of Benghazi-Gate will sink the DNC-asses’ party, including Barry Soetoro & Killary, like Titanic!
But my concern is the ship will also have some Rino passengers onboard such as Rep. Mike Rogers and likeminded!!
The asses are guarding this issue like the Gold in Ft. Knox!!!
“I can’t recall” will be her testimony.
I have a new theory about Hillary. She is stalling on declaring whether she will run as long as she can to suck all the air out of any thought of a primary challenge. She will then declare that she will not run... health, family, etc. the usual stuff and someone else will step up who has been planning on this all along. I have someone in mind whom I think it will be. Freepers have any idea?
.....Jellooo!!!
How long did it take to get the billing records from the Whitewater scandal???
He’s black, and he is an idiot. He is immune..
I REMEMBER Rushes song on Hillary testifying, when Bill was POTUS
the tune was “Try to Remember” I can’t remember the guys name that did these tunes for Rush but they were hysterical!!!!!!!
Pray tell, who do you think it will be? Your fellow Freeper’s would love to know........
That will only be half of her testimony. The other half will be "What difference does it make?"
Jim Webb or Tim Kaine
If this goes the way we all want, I’ll bet the Commander of the 6th Fleet is called to testify—and if he does, it’ll blow the lid they have all scrambled to slam shut so tightly. And, as an added bonus, WE CAN SEND OVOMIT AND HIS ADMIN, KILLARY, AND ALL THE REST TO GITMO where they will be incarcerated, interrogated, and sit on their bums until they meet their Maker!
Michelle?
We don’t hear any denials of this. Remember she show up to the Senate hearing with some weird glasses???
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