As Clinton Emails Emerge, Schiff Wants to Stop Benghazi Committee

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) wants Congress to shut down the Select Committee on Benghazi, now that Hillary Clinton’s emails are coming to light.

In an op-ed in the New York Times, Schiff, ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and a member of the Select Committee, says the investigation has “little more than a partisan tool to influence the presidential race,” and must be stopped–for Congress’s own sake.

Schiff blames Republicans for politicizing the Benghazi issue. He completely ignores the way in which President Barack Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promoted a false narrative about an anti-Islam YouTube video–ensuring that the filmmaker was jailed–to avoid election-season fallout from their failure to protect the U.S. consulate and their refusal to respond appropriately to the attacks as they unfolded on the night of Sep. 11, 2012.

In addition, Schiff says, a report last year by the House Intelligence Committee “debunked the many conspiracy theories alleging malicious actions or a vast cover-up.” As Breitbart News noted at the time, the report concluded that there was no intelligence failure, and suggested there was no “stand down” order, as some alleged. Yet it did not exonerate Obama or Clinton–and it did not even interview anyone from the White House or State Department.

Schiff’s real problem is the Clinton emails, which have led to an FBI investigation, and suggest some evidence on Benghazi may have been hidden or destroyed. He repeats her defense–that no emails were “marked classified at the time she received them.” The law, as Schiff is no doubt aware, covers classified information, not just documents “marked classified.” There is also evidence some emails were altered. (Curiously, Schiff exempts emails she sent.)

In the Times, Schiff calls for the Benghazi committee to be disbanded–just as it has begun to uncover damning evidence that could lead Congress to learn, finally, the truth about Benghazi.

Schiff, who also offered early support to the Iran deal, has exposed himself as nothing more than a partisan hack, a party operative placed on the committee to sabotage it once it became a threat to Clinton’s ambitions. Fortunately, he is certain to be ignored.