Top Republicans with classified information about the terrorist assault on the U.S. mission in Benghazi last September may not want to see a House Select Committee formed to investigate the attack that left four Americans dead, including U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens, although a number of Senate and House Republicans remain unsatisfied with information they have received from the Obama administration about the deadly attack.
Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA), a subcommittee chairman on the House Appropriations Committee, has re -filed a resolution to form such a select committee. Only Speaker John Boehner can allow the formation of a House Select Committee.
Other Republicans were unsure of their support for a select committee. “You know, I don’t think so. We’re still under the review of our committee right now, so we’re still conducting our investigation. We haven’t finished it yet. I’m not exactly sure where the foreign affairs committee is yet, but I know they are still doing their review,” said Congressman Mike Rogers (R-MI), Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, when Breitbart News asked if he would support Wolf’s effort.
Wolf sent a “dear colleague letter” to Republican House members on Friday asking for their support for his resolution. Wolf expressed the necessity for the select committee so that Benghazi survivors could have a venue to put forth their accounts without risking their jobs or face prosecution from the Justice Department.
Boehner and Rogers are both part of Congress’ “super 8,” both parties’ top leadership in the upper and lower chambers. They, as well as chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, are all privy to classified information about the Benghazi attack.
Rogers also disagreed with Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) regarding Paul’s assertion that the CIA annex in Benghazi was a site that Americans were running guns to “out of Libya into Turkish hands.”
“We have looked at all of that. I can find no information that substantiates that, but if it were there, I would want to find it,” Rogers said.
On January 24, Speaker Boehner told conservative talk radio host Laura Ingraham, regarding Paul’s remarks, “I’m somewhat familiar with the chatter about this and the fact that these arms were moving towards Turkey, but most what I know about this came from a classified source and I really can’t elaborate on it.”
Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Ranking Member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, both told Breitbart News they knew nothing about the gunrunning from the CIA annex to which Paul was referring.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said in November that he did not find it necessary for a joint select committee to investigate the Benghazi attack after Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) had announced the need for one.
The three senators, who are all part of the Senate Armed Services Committee, released a statement on Monday threatening to place a hold on John Brennan, Barack Obama’s nominee for CIA director, if the administration did not release more information about the Benghazi attack.
The statement included a litany of what remains known and unknown about the attacks, as well as contradictory statements made by administration officials in congressional testimony.
Senators are expected to vote on Brennan’s nomination in committee on Tuesday.
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