House Speaker John Boehner is calling for the creation of a special committee to investigate the Sept. 11, 2012 attack at a U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi. Meanwhile, House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa has subpoenaed Secretary of State John Kerry at another hearing.
Boehner’s announcement is in response to the State Department releasing an email that showed how a top White House aide discussed talking points after the attack with the then-U.S. ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice. In a statement, Boehner said that he felt compelled to call for the creation of the committee.
“The administration's withholding of documents – emails showing greater White House involvement in misleading the American people – is a flagrant violation of trust and undermines the basic principles of oversight upon which our system of government is built,” Boehner said. “And it forces us to ask the question, what else about Benghazi is the Obama administration still hiding from the American people?”
According to the Los Angeles Times, White House press secretary Jay Carney said that the email was not released immediately because it dealt with the unrest in the region overall, not just on Benghazi. However, a senior GOP aide told the LA Times that Boehner “was furious to learn that the administration withheld relevant documents from a congressional subpoena.”
Bloomberg reports that Issa has called Kerry to testify before the House Oversight Committee to testify on how the Obama Administration has responded to the congressional investigations into the attack. Issa said that the State Department has shown a “disturbing disregard” for its obligations to Congress.
With the midterm elections nearing, some Republicans have been quick to call the email released this week a “smoking gun” as they continue to ask about the administration’s response. The attack left four Americans dead, including ambassador J. Christopher Stephens.