MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell criticized how Benghazi House Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) conducted the first three hours of testimony from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, saying it revealed nothing new.
“The simple headline at the end of the last three hours, if this is all they have, they have nothing,” O’Donnell said.
The committee was formed in May 2014 and Americans expected to learn new information during Clinton’s questioning, he said.
“We had every right to expect to learn something we hadn’t heard before. This committee’s been working for a long time,” O’Donnell said. “They didn’t do that.”
O’Donnell then said Gowdy was a weak chairman and did a poor job of guiding the committee.
“This about the chairman. A committee operates under the authority of the chairman. Weak chairmen run hearings like this,” O’Donnell said. “Strong chairmen get their strength — not by the toughness with which they bang the gavel — they get their strength through cooperation, respect and open dealings with the other side.”
“You can always tell how serious an investigative committee is,” O’Donnell said. “If the members are asking the questions, it’s not serious.”
Watch the discussion, from MSNBC, below:
They(GOP Committee) are not used to it as Fox hosts do this for them all day. They are looking into Hannity and others at Fox to run the house for them. That will formalize their existing relationship.
He pretty much said it all right there.
FARCE.
The whole thing is really just an embarrassment for the Republican members of the committee. All I wonder when they ask their questions is whether they have ever had jobs in leadership positions before becoming members of the House. I mean they seem to think it was Clinton’s job to be sitting in her office emailing about Benghazi all day and handling every single task and issue herself - which says so much more about their experience than it does about Clinton’s. Embarrassing.
“…or the point of which isn’t even clear (why did Sid Blumenthal send you so many emails?)”
Just check Faux News if you’re wondering what narrative they’re trying to establish. This is all about the GOP/Teatrolls on the committee having decided that the narrative in their “findings” will include batshit nonsense about Clinton paying more attention to Blumenthal than to Stevens and that Blumenthal was her main source of information…not the miiltary, advisors, intelligence community et al…about the goings-on in Libya.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/10/22/high-stakes-for-clinton-in-benghazi-committee-appearance/?intcmp=hpbt1
Oh, they have something - another tool to agitate their base. There’s a reason why they continue to pull stunts like this - they work.