John Boehner: Benghazi Select Committee 'Not Going to Be a Circus'

House Speaker John Boehner explained to reporters Wednesday morning that he considers the select committee’s investigation into the terrorist attacks in Benghazi a very serious matter.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has demanded that, for the sake of fairness, the committee be evenly split between Republicans and Democrats.

But the chairman named to the committee, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), insisted on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Wednesday that his process would be fair even if there were more Republicans on the panel. “It can be fair and still dominated by one party or another, and my challenge is, at the end of this, for you to say, ‘He’s not very smart, but he was fair,'” Gowdy explained.

House Republicans exiting the House conference meetings Wednesday morning had little to say about who would be on the committee, but they remarked that the process was ongoing.

Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID) said that he doubted that he would be on the panel. “I’m not a favorite of leadership, so I doubt it,” he said wryly.

When asked why he thought his name was floated as a possibility by political observers, he admitted it was probably due to his record. “I don’t know. They probably have seen me, how I behave in committee. I’m pretty good at asking questions,” he said. “So if it was based on merit, it would probably be on top of the list, but that’s not how things are done here in Washington.”

But Labrador did praise Gowdy’s selection as “fantastic,” noting that Boehner “couldn’t have picked a better person” to lead the committee.

Labrador also echoed Boehner’s insistence that the committee should focus solely on getting to the truth. “I don’t think it should be seen through a political prism. I think we make a mistake if we make this about politics. This should be definitely about getting to the truth about what happened,” Labrador told Breitbart News after the House Republican conference meeting.

Labrador added that he hoped the committee would inspire the media to “finally care” about the truth behind the attacks, as they were a powerful tool to uncovering the truth when they wanted to.