Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) wasted no time in going after House Republicans’ new select committee to investigate the Benghazi attacks in 2012. Specifically, Warren set her crosshairs on the committee’s chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC).
Warren, in an email to supporters on Friday, said that Gowdy “gives oversight a bad name.” She cited a Huffington Post article that included Gowdy grilling her on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2011. That article, Warren pointed out, reported that Gowdy “seemed to lack the basic facts” about the new watchdog agency.
Warren also said that the whole Benghazi special committee is just “political theater of the House Republicans” and a “waste-of-time-and-resources witch hunt and fundraising sideshow” that’s really a distraction.
“This stunt does a disservice to those who serve our country abroad, and it distracts us from issues we should be taking up on behalf of the American people,” Warren continued.
Warren concluded the email that the entire effort is “wrong and it’s shameful.”
Democrats are deciding whether to completely boycott the committee. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD), earlier in the week, complained to House Speaker Boehner (R-OH) that his refusal to put an even number of Democrats and Republicans on the panel into a thinly veiled “partisan review.”
“Another partisan review that serves only to politicize these attacks is disrespectful and unworthy of the American people,” the two House Democrats wrote.
She’s right, as usual.
Congressional committees are usually weighted in favor of the majority party. Aren’t “special committees” usually handled the same way?
The beautiful thing about Elizabeth Warren is that she is comfortable fighting the plutocratic, seditious, racist, xenophobic, insular, anarchistic, socially Darwinist Republicans.
I love this lady’s courage. I once saw a recent post on another site which implied that Elizabeth Warren’s temperament as a lioness fighting for the people would be bad for her spirit.
I disagree. I believe that her temperament validates her spirit.
Democrats need to add up all the money the Republican House has spent (wasted) over the past 2 years on Obamacare repeal, Benghazi, the non-existent IRS scandal, and shutting down the government. Then make an ad listing the programs for ordinary people that this money could have funded.
There is a big difference between how many people you put on a committee and the powers you give to both sides. If you want a fair process you give both sides relatively equal power over calling witnesses, investigative staff, time questioning, etc. The oversight on Watergate, Iran/Contra and 9/11 for example all had significant efforts at letting both sides have a say and producing a bipartisan report. The GOP has not done that with any oversight investigations in the last several years - they have given themselves the unilateral power to define the scope of the investigations, hold hearings and call witnesses. So for example in the IRS case Issa tasked the investigators with only looking at “targeting” of conservative groups - which in turn led to one sided reports that ignored the fact that the IRS looked at groups from all parts of the political spectrum, but the majority then claimed were conclusive evidence. You can imagine what such a process might lead to on Benghazi, which is what the Dem leadership is concerned about.