Subject: ICYMI: Huffington Post (McAuliffe): Trey Gowdy’s Former Top Lawyer Undercuts The Benghazi Committee
From: Hillary for America Press <[email-masked]>
To: Hillary for America Press <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 16 May 2016 10:08:15 -0400
List-Id: <nationalpress2016.hillaryclinton.com>

*​IN CASE YOU MISSED IT​*

*Trey Gowdy’s Former Top Lawyer Undercuts The Benghazi Committee*
*​The Huffington Post*
*By Michael McAuliffe*
*May 16, 2016​*

*http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trey-gowdy-dana-chipman-benghazi-committee_us_5738db52e4b08f96c18373e2
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trey-gowdy-dana-chipman-benghazi-committee_us_5738db52e4b08f96c18373e2>*

Shortly before the House Benghazi committee ramped up its battles with the
Department of Defense in its probe of the 2012 terrorist attack, the
committee’s own top lawyer admitted at least four times in interviews with
military officials that there was no more they could have done on that
tragic night.

That’s according to a letter obtained by The Huffington Post that was sent
Sunday to the chairman of the committee, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), from the
top Democrats on the Benghazi panel and the House Armed Services Committee,
Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Adam Smith (D-Wash.).

The Democrats are sending the letter after relations between the GOP-led
Benghazi committee and military officials recently took a turn for the
worse. The military accused the committee late last month of demanding
increasingly frivolous interviews from irrelevant service members; Gowdy
responded by calling that charge a “partisan attack.”

But in Monday’s letter, which includes four separate comments from Gowdy’s
recently departed chief counsel, Democrats say Gowdy’s own staffer agreed
with the military.

According to the letter, that staffer, former Gen. Dana Chipman, said in
interviews with former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and former Defense
Department Chief of Staff Jeremy Bash that the department did all it could
on that night when Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were
killed.

“I think you ordered exactly the right forces to move out and to head
toward a position where they could reinforce what was occurring in Benghazi
or in Tripoli or elsewhere in the region,” Chipman told Panetta in the
committee’s January interview with the former defense secretary, according
to transcribed excerpts. “And, sir, I don’t disagree with the actions you
took, the recommendations you made, and the decisions you directed.”

Chipman was similarly deferential to Bash.

“I would posit that from my perspective, having looked at all the materials
over the last 18 months, we could not have affected the response to what
occurred by 5:15 in the morning on the 12th of September in Benghazi,
Libya,” said Chipman, who himself served 33 years in the Army.

“I don’t see any way to influence what occurred there,” he told Bash at
another point. “But what I am worried about is we’re caught by surprise on
9/11, we’ve got nothing postured to respond in a timely manner — and you
can debate what’s timely, what’s untimely, but nothing could have affected
what occurred in Benghazi.”

That interview was also in January. Chipman left the committee not long
after. His statements appear to confirm the general findings of the eight
previous investigations into Benghazi, which found flaws in readiness and
coordination but no signs of wrongdoing. Those reports also repeatedly
debunked rumors that the military was ordered to stand down.

But after Chipman’s departure, the Defense Department noted in its recent
complaint, requests to interview people based on things such as Facebook
posts and allegations on talk radio shows started to spike.

Those commenters, on the air and online, generally seek to revive some sort
of stand-down scenario. Gowdy has said that it’s his obligation to seek out
all sources of information, including from rank-and-file service members,
not just the people who gave the orders that night.

In a statement provided by the committee, Chipman said he backed Gowdy’s
dogged pursuit of fresh witnesses, although he did not contradict his
comments mentioned in the Democrats’ letter.

“I agree with Chairman Gowdy. If some witnesses refer the committee to
other witnesses, the responsible thing to do is interview them,” Chipman
said. “The committee has an obligation to the American people to determine
what can and cannot be substantiated, so if an individual makes public
allegations about Benghazi, the committee should interview that person.”

A spokesman for the committee, Matt Wolking, added that the letter and the
excerpted statements from the general were more examples of the Democrats’
partisan attempts to curb the real progress the probe is making.

“No matter how many dishonest letters Democrats waste time writing,
Republicans will continue conducting a thorough, fact-centered
investigation that includes all relevant witnesses, regardless of rank,”
Wolking said.

He also argued that the committee has made progress, despite the minority
party’s efforts.

“Democrats have peddled the same politically motivated, predetermined
conclusions from the very beginning, so it’s no surprise they’re still
clinging to their false claim everything has been ‘asked and answered,’
even after the Pentagon admitted the map it previously provided to the
committee showing the forces available on the night of the attacks was
incomplete,” Wolking said. “Democrats’ false attacks on legitimate
congressional oversight are proof they’re nervous about the new information
committee investigators have uncovered.”

Chipman is not the first former staffer to cause heartburn for Gowdy. A
military investigator who was fired from the committee accused it of
running a “partisan investigation.”

The Benghazi committee has been working for more than two years and has
cost about $7 million and counting. Democrats estimate that other
government entities have spent about $13 million more responding to the
committee’s requests.

And while it’s interviewed some 100 witnesses, its most notable revelation
has been that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton conducted her State
Department business on her personal email server. The FBI is investigating
whether she violated any laws.

-- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "NationalPress2016" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email-masked].