The special Benghazi committee is going to be even more off-kilter.
This is going to be awfully inconvenient for Republicans who are putting most of their anti-Hillary eggs in the Benghazi basket: the House Intelligence Committee—the
Republican Intelligence Committee—has completed its investigation and according to Rep. Mike Thompson of St. Helena, the second-ranking Democrat on the committee, has concluded there was
no wrongdoing by the administration. The committee voted to declassify the report last Thursday, pending approval by intelligence agencies.
Among the Intelligence Committee's findings, according to Thompson:
-- Intelligence agencies were "warned about an increased threat environment, but did not have specific tactical warning of an attack before it happened."
-- "A mixed group of individuals, including those associated with al Qaeda, (Moammar) Khadafy loyalists and other Libyan militias, participated in the attack."
-- "There was no 'stand-down order' given to American personnel attempting to offer assistance that evening, no illegal activity or illegal arms transfers occurring by U.S. personnel in Benghazi, and no American was left behind."
-- The administration's process for developing "talking points" was "flawed, but the talking points reflected the conflicting intelligence assessments in the days immediately following the crisis."
However, the $3.3 million special committee created by House leadership is
still proceeding with its first public hearing scheduled next month. The hearing, Rep. Trey Gowdy has said, will focus on "changes the State Department has made to better protect diplomats." Gowdy has also said that "the committee’s investigation would be an objective search for facts, not a partisan attempt to smear Democrats ahead of the 2014 mid-term elections and the 2016 presidential race." With the conclusions reached by his colleagues' investigation, there won't be much to find. With all this news, Darrell Issa must be gnashing his teeth and rending his garments.