Dems Slam 'Unfair' Benghazi Probe Plan

House Democrats are threatening not to participate in a special select committee on Benghazi, accusing Republicans of making an “unfair” framework for the panel that underscores its partisanship.

"This is nothing more than a kangaroo court in the making,"Democratic Caucus Chairman Xavier Becerra told reporters Wednesday. "They have not explained to us on the Republican side what’s so important to do this over and over again."

Top Democrats told GOP leaders in a letter last night that they reject the proposed makeup of seven Republicans and five Democrats on the panel, as well as its granting of subpoena authority only to chairman Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy.

“If you truly want this new select committee to be bipartisan and fair – and to be taken seriously by the American people – we call on you to reconsider this approach before bringing this measure to the House floor for a vote,” they wrote.

Other Democrats went even further, saying flatly that they should ignore the panel entirely.

"I would be dead-set against it," top Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina said of a committee that didn't have equal representation of Republicans and Democrats. "I'm not bringing a noose to my hanging."

Republicans will vote Thursday on a resolution to formally establish the rules for the special select committee. Democrats are expected to oppose that measure.

House Speaker John Boehner insisted Wednesday that the special select committee is intended for “transparency and accountability,” not for political points.

“This is all about getting to the truth,” he told reporters. “There's not going to be a side show, there's not going to be a circus, this is a serious investigation.

Via: NBC News

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Gowdy: 'I Want to See Every Single Solitary Document'; Death of 4 Americans 'Transcends Politics'

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), who has been chosen to chair the select committee on Benghazi, went “On The Record tonight.

When asked what he would say to Democrats like Rep. Adam Schiff who oppose the committee, Gowdy said, “At least let the process have a chance to work before you declare it null and void.”

Gowdy said the committee will lay out all the facts and evidence, and then a jury will come to a decision. He said he hopes for a reasonable, fair-minded jury.

The South Carolina congressman told Greta Van Susteren that witnesses have come forward and shared that there was a systematic effort to keep certain documents under wraps. He also said there is a lot of over-classification of documents to protect people’s careers.

“I’m not interested in summaries, I’m not interested in synopses, I’m interested in access to the document and the witness, and I’ll decide whether or not I think the appropriate questions were asked in the past,” he said.

“There are certain things in our culture that have to transcend politics. And I don’t mean to sound naive, but the murder of four fellow Americans and an attack on a facility that is emblematic of our country should transcend politics, and I know our fellow citizens can handle the truth, but only if they get access to it,” he said.

Via: Fox News

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TREY GOWDY GOES OFF ON NATIONAL PARK SERVICE DIRECTOR FOR TREATING OCCUPY PROTESTERS BETTER THAN NATION’S VETERANS

During a prescheduled House hearing Wednesday morning, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) spent several minutes berating National Parks Service directorJonathan Jarvis over the closing of several Washington, D.C. monuments during the government shutdown.

Contrasting the parks service’s decision to allow in 2011 the Occupy Wall Street movement a one-hundred-day-long encampment in D.C.’s McPherson Square with the turning away of visitors to the National Mall this October, Gowdy scolded Jarvis for favoring the “pot-smoking” Occupiers over the “war veterans” who “helped build” the monuments.

The South Carolinian lawmaker repeatedly pressed Jarvis to cite a regulation for why he’d erected barricades and turned away veterans from war monuments on the first day of shutdown.

The parks director explained: “On the very first day of the closure, I implemented a closure order for all 401 national parks in compliance with the Anti-Deficiency Act. And immediately, that day, also included, as a part of that order, that First Amendment activities would be permitted on the National Mall.”

But Gowdy was unconvinced. “Do you consider it First Amendment activity to walk to a monument that you helped build, or is it only just smoking pot at McPherson Square?” he asked with an accusatory tone.

“We are content-neutral on First Amendment and on the National Mall,” Jarvis responded.

“That wasn’t my question,” Gowdy shot back. “Do you consider it to be an exercise of your First Amendment rights to walk to a monument that you helped build?”

It went on from there. Watch below, via C-SPAN3:

Via: Mediaite.com

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MASTERFUL: Rep. Trey Gowdy GRILLS Adm. Mullen on Why He Didn’t Interview Hillary Clinton Over Benghazi

Rep. Trey Gowdy masterfully goes after Adm. Mullen on the fact that he choose not to interview Hillary Clinton on Benghazi, despite the fact that she was responsible for all of it. It’s excellent as usual.

Watch:

Here’s another by Gowdy from today in the same hearing:

Rep. Gowdy tells the families of the Benghazi victims that the American people have not forgotten about Benghazi.

Via: The Right Scoop

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