Democrats in Congress have staunchly fought any and all attempts to get to the truth in the Benghazi attack. They have caused phony arguments in committee hearings — when they have even bothered to attend those hearings. They have decried the congressional investigations as “witch hunts.” They have criticized Republicans for mentioning Benghazi in their fund-raising emails.
Even though Democrats including President Obama use tragedies to raise money for themselves.
Now that House Speaker John Boehner has announced that a select committee will investigate Benghazi, the Democrats have come up with another strategy for stonewalling.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) laid out that strategy on Fox News. He is the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee.
In an interview with Fox’s Martha MacCallum, Van Hollen criticized any and all future investigations into Benghazi as illegitimate. But if there has to be an investigation, Van Hollen says Democrats should be granted something that the American people have not voted to give them.
MacCallum asked, “So let’s talk about the select committee for a moment because I do want to get your thoughts on whether or not you think your party should not participate. What do you think?”
Van Hollen accused Rep. Trey Gowdy of saying things that he has not said, such as that he already has a “smoking gun” on Benghazi. MacCallum pressed Van Hollen to back that up, and he could not. Van Hollen then said that Democrats, despite being in the minority in the House, should have an equal number of representatives on the select committee as Republicans.
“That’s why you have to have a fair process, Martha,” Van Hollen said, “And i think most people would agree that having an even number of Republicans and Democrats, that’s fair.”
MacCallum pointed out that the Watergate committee had a Democratic majority when it investigated a Republican president, because Democrats held the majority in the House at the time. Van Hollen laughed that off and again smeared Gowdy. Van Hollen said that Watergate could be investigated by a partisan-majority committee because “it included potential criminal wrongdoing.”
The Benghazi attack could potentially implicate officials in negligent homicide, for their refusal to improve security at the US facility at which four Americans died. The Benghazi investigation could also turn up who decided to blame the attack on a movie, why, and who had the man who made the movie arrested and jailed for a year.
Given their behavior on Benghazi to date, it’s a safe bet that giving Democrats an equal number of representatives on the select committee will ensure that it is unable to issue subpoenas or investigate the attack and the Obama administration’s actions thoroughly. They will use parity to block the committee at every turn. Sixty percent of the American people want Benghazi investigated.
Watch video of Van Hollen’s appearance on Fox on the next page.
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