Senate Dems Urge Boehner To Shut Down Benghazi Panel After McCarthy’s Remarks

UNITED STATES - JUNE 11: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., speaks during the news conference following the failed vote on student loan reforms on Wednesday, June 11, 2014. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call) ... UNITED STATES - JUNE 11: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., speaks during the news conference following the failed vote on student loan reforms on Wednesday, June 11, 2014. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images) MORE LESS
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Following House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) Tuesday remark that the House investigation into Benghazi hurt Hillary Clinton politically, Democratic leaders in the Senate called on House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) to disband the House Select Committee on Benghazi immediately.

In the letter, Democrats said that McCarthy admitted that the select committee “was put together to serve the political purpose of defeating Secretary Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Presidential elections by hurting her in the polls, rather than conducting a serious investigation into a terrorist attack that killed four Americans.”

“We should not disrespect their sacrifice by further politicizing this tragedy,” the letter from Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and four other top Democrats reads.

“It is unconscionable that the US House of Representatives is continuing to use millions of dollars in taxpayer funds for political purposes, and we urge you to immediately disband the Select Committee on Benghazi,” the letter continues.

In a Tuesday interview with Fox News’ Hannity, McCarthy boasted that the Benghazi committee had hurt Clinton in the polls.

“Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right?” he 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.”

Read the full letter from Sens. Reid, Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Patty Murray (D-WA), and Barbara Boxer (D-CA):

Dear Speaker Boehner:

We are writing to ask you to disband the House Select Committee on Benghazi after House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s recent comments admitting that the Select Committee was put together to serve the political purpose of defeating Secretary Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Presidential elections by hurting her in the polls, rather than conducting a serious investigation into a terrorist attack that killed four Americans. We should not disrespect their sacrifice by further politicizing this tragedy.

Specifically, Majority Leader McCarthy said, when discussing his beliefs about a strategy for a conservative Congress:

“And let me give you one example. Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? 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. But no one would have known that any of that had happened had we not fought to make that happen.”

The Select Committee on Benghazi has already cost the American tax payers over 4.5 million dollars on what the House Majority Leader has now made clear is nothing more than a political attack against Secretary Clinton. This investigation is one of the longest in Congressional history, surpassing the length of the Watergate Committee, the Joint Committee investigating Pearl Harbor, the Warren Commission, and the Iran Contra investigation.

We would also note that the Select Committee on Benghazi, after months of investigation, found no evidence supporting any of the original Republican conspiracy theories on Benghazi. Republicans are now continuing to use the Committee for ongoing political investigations of Secretary Clinton with absolutely no linkage to the terrorist attacks in Benghazi.

It is unconscionable that the US House of Representatives is continuing to use millions of dollars in taxpayer funds for political purposes, and we urge you to immediately disband the Select Committee on Benghazi.

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