Senate Democrats are fed up.
House Democrats have been hammering on the Benghazi Committee's partisan aims for a while, and now Senate Democrats are getting in on the act. Sens. Harry Reid, Dick Durbin, Chuck Schumer, and Patty Murray have written a letter to the Republican National Committee,
demanding that it pay for the more than $4.5 million the Benghazi Committee has spent in an investigation that two House Republicans, including the majority leader, have admitted is targeting Hillary Clinton for partisan reasons. They write:
Over the past several weeks, several House Republicans have made clear what many observers have suspected all along: that the Select Committee has conducted a political inquisition aimed at former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Due to the political nature of the committee, we believe it is inappropriate that a reported 4.7 million taxpayer dollars were used to finance its operations and that the RNC subsequently orchestrated numerous fundraising opportunities in its wake. Therefore, we urge the RNC to fully reimburse the U.S. taxpayer and cease all fundraising opportunities linked to the Select Committee. [..]
Furthermore, the NRCC has sent out fundraising solicitations citing the Select Committee’s efforts. For example, the NRCC website solicitation dated May 6th says, “House Republicans will make sure that no one will get away from Gowdy and the Select Committee.”
It is clear from these candid comments and public reports that the Select Committee on Benghazi has retreated from the pursuit of the facts and instead is operating a political opposition machine against Secretary Clinton. Therefore, the continued use of taxpayer funds is wholly inappropriate. We firmly believe the Committee should be disbanded, and that every penny of taxpayer money that has financed this purely political committee ought to be repaid.
Hillary Clinton testifies in front of the committee on Thursday, and after that,
the committee's Democrats have a choice:
"That, I think, is going to be a matter of our discussion after the hearing this week: How much longer does it make sense for us to continue to participate?" Representative Adam Schiff said in an interview.
On the one hand, Schiff said, there's value to knowing what the Republicans are doing and having the information to say "hold up, there" when the misleading leaks get out of control. On the other hand, "we lend legitimacy, by being there, to a committee that really has none."
Republicans have done a lot to damage the legitimacy of the Benghazi Committee, but Democrats should definitely be doing what they can to tear away that last little fig leaf of legitimacy. It's a partisan witch hunt, and by now we know enough about how it operates to call bull from the outside.