Secretary of State Jon Kerry was a senator at the time of the Benghazi attack
For all the critics who said John Kerry is a wooden robot with no sense of humor,
I present:
Secretary of State John Kerry agreed on Friday to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform over the 2012 attacks on the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, possibly exacerbating tensions between Republicans over competing inquiries.
At issue are the GOP's dueling House inquiries into #Benghazi, the House Government Oversight Committee investigation helmed by Rep. Darrell Issa, and the newer House Select Committee investigation helmed by Rep. Trey Gowdy. The latter was in many ways a rebuke to the former: Issa has been unable to uncover Obama's impeachable offenses, so Republicans (who know the impeachable offenses must be somewhere) voted to let Trey Gowdy take over the job.
At least that's what they thought they were voting for. But they didn't remove jurisdiction from Issa—they simply created yet another #Benghazi investigation. So now there are two. And what better way to needle the GOP over its pet obsession than by giving the committee chairman they had hoped to banish an opportunity to create some theater?
As Charles Pierce put it:
John Kerry trolls the House
In explaining Kerry's decision, a spokesman said that appearing on Issa's panel should obviate the need to appear on Gowdy's panel, but I wouldn't take that too seriously. If Gowdy wants to humiliate the GOP at a future date with some theater of his own, Kerry could very well oblige. But at least for now, he's mocking the GOP ... by doing exactly what they are asking him to do. What a bunch of clowns.