Chaffetz: McCarthy Should Apologize For ‘Inappropriate’ Benghazi Remark

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Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, on Wednesday slammed House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for his recent comment that the investigation into Benghazi had hurt Hillary Clinton politically.

“That’s an absolute inappropriate statement. It is not how this started. We wanted to get to the truth of it,” Chaffetz told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

During an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Tuesday, McCarthy boasted the House Select Committee on Benghazi’s success in hurting Clinton in the polls.

“Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right?” McCarthy said. “But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she’s untrustable [sic]. But no one would have known any of that had happened had we not fought and made that happen.”

Chaffetz, who investigated the Benghazi attack on the Oversight Committee, told Blitzer that the special committee “started because there were four dead Americans, and we didn’t have answers as to what happened before, during and after.”

Blitzer asked if McCarthy’s comments disqualify him from becoming speaker of the House.

“I don’t think it necessarily disqualifies him, but I think it’s an absolute [sic] terrible statement. I don’t think it’s a fair characterization,” Chaffetz replied.

Chaffetz also said that McCarthy should apologize when asked by the CNN host.

“I think he should apologize. I think he should withdraw it. I think it’s an absolute [sic] inaccurate statement as to what we’re doing and have done on the work on Benghazi,” he said.

Watch the video via CNN:

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