On Tuesday, the House Benghazi Committee concluded the seemingly never-ending investigation of the 2012 attack on an American embassy that resulted in the deaths of four U.S citizens.
The committee has come under repeated attacks.
A Tale of Two Reports
The long-awaited 800-page report is the culmination of a hyper-partisan showdown that critics have described as a GOP-led effort to discredit then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leading up to the presidential election.
Committee Chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) countered these critiques in a statement released in conjunction with the report, arguing that the investigation was solely intended to reveal the “truth,” and honor the victims of the attack.
In addition to condemning Clinton’s “misleading,†assessment of the cause of the attack, Gowdy also faulted her for not fully cooperating with the investigation.
The report highlights several instances of eyebrow-raising bureaucratic miscommunication coupled with inadequate security within the Defense department.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, the no-nonsense senior ranking Democrat on the committee who previously called the investigation a “waste of tax-payer money,†released a Democrat-authored report clearing Clinton of any wrongdoing.
“Our overarching conclusion is that the evidence obtained by the Select Committee confirms the core findings already issued by many previous investigations into the attacks in Benghazi,†the Democrats concluded.
How Will this Effect the Election?Â
While the report does include several instances of administrative failures and miscommunication in adequately addressing the attack, it does not contain any new bombshells that would do serious damage to Clinton’s presidential campaign.
The GOP would obviously beg to differ.
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus released a statement praising the report for “shedding new light on the systemic security failures of the Clinton State Department,†which “make clear we cannot afford to let Hillary Clinton be our next commander-in-chief.â€
Clinton offered her take on the report’s findings at a campaign stop in Denver earlier today. “I’ll leave it to others to characterize the report,†Clinton said. “But I think it’s pretty clear it’s time to move on.”