House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) threatened Thursday to pull Democrats from the House Select Benghazi Committee over comments by Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) that the committee’s investigation succeeded in tanking the poll numbers of Hillary Clinton.
Pelosi said McCarthy’s comments show the committee was formed for political gain and is “unethical,” according to a Thursday report from The Hill.
“It’s just a stunning admission on the part of the Republican leader that the Benghazi Committee was created with a political purpose in mind. In fact, it’s really an ethical question,” Pelosi said during a press conference in Washington. “It makes the whole operation practically an unethical operation.”
McCarthy said during a Tuesday interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity that the former Secretary of State’s poll numbers were dropping because of the committee’s work. Clinton said McCarthy’s statement “dishonored” the four Americans who died in the 9/11 attack at the American embassy in Benghazi, Libya.
Pelosi said the committee should be disbanded, but House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday the committee will continue. Pelosi said Democrats would continue to participate on the committee for now.
“It’s obvious that it should be disbanded based on the leader’s own words,” Pelosi said. “But since we recognize Republicans do not intend to do that, I would encourage my members to continue to participate, and then we will see how much longer they want this to go on. How long we will participate depends on how serious they are, and we haven’t seen any signs of seriousness.”
Late update: In a statement to the Washington Post, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), who serves on the Benghazi Committee, echoed Pelosi’s concerns but said he would not boycott the committee:
“As Rep. McCarthy’s statement made crystal clear this week, Republicans created the Benghazi Select Committee from the very beginning to wage a taxpayer-funded political campaign against Hillary Clinton’s bid for president. Obviously, this is an unethical abuse of millions of taxpayer dollars and a crass assault on the memories of the four Americans who died, and I believe it should be halted immediately. However, I am not naïve in thinking Republicans will cease their political attacks on Secretary Clinton, which is why I will be in that room defending the truth.”
