Constituents at Rep. Steve Womack’s (R-AR) town hall on Tuesday pressed the congressman to investigate President Donald Trump’s administration the same way elected Republicans investigated the 2012 Benghazi attack.
“You guys just want to investigate everybody. Well, some—” Womack began, as the crowd erupted in jeers.
“What about Benghazi?” one audience member shouted.
“You guys wasted a lot of money on Benghazi, waste a little on Trump!” another added.
Crowd asks Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR) to investigate Trump/Russia.
Wait for it… pic.twitter.com/4siV7A0cOR
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) February 22, 2017
Eight congressional committees launched investigations into the Benghazi attack, which occurred while Hillary Clinton served as secretary of state. Womack did not serve on any of those committees, but he cosponsored a 2013 bill to establish a select committee to investigate the attack.
Republicans—including Trump on the campaign trail—have frequently invoked the incident to criticize her record at the State Department.
In a December 2015 email to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State Colin Powell dismissed the years-long Republican outcry over the attacks as “a stupid witch hunt.”
House Republicans have been reluctant to probe Trump’s potential conflicts of interest, on the other hand. Before Trump’s inauguration, House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) said that he would not go on a “fishing expedition” into Trump’s business dealings.
“I’m not going to go on this fishing expedition that they want me to, that the Democrats want me to,” he said. “We’ll see how that rolls out.”
Republican lawmakers home in their districts for the week during Congress’ recess faced large crowds at town halls on Tuesday. Constituents and protesters gathered at public events and outside local appearances by members of Congress.
