Washington, D.C. — Following the House Republicans’ late night maneuver to block a vote last night on a measure that would make public the amount of money the Department of Defense has had to spend in response to numerous investigations into Benghazi, Correct the Record President Brad Woodhouse released the following statement.
Trey Gowdy admitted this week that the military couldn’t have gotten to Benghazi in enough time to save American lives, confirming that the Benghazi Committee — the eighth congressional investigation into this tragedy — is based on nothing but politics. Now, House Republicans are using procedural maneuvers to try to keep secret the amount of wasted taxpayer dollars spent on duplicative ‘investigations.’ But this isn’t surprising. Gowdy and Benghazi Republicans have repeatedly gone out of their way to withhold documents, hold secret meetings, refuse to make transcripts public and limit document access to Democrats and to the American public. This latest stunt just proves that they are trying to hide something. The American people deserve to see the full cost of the eight Benghazi investigations to the Department of Defense, which should be spending our taxpayer dollars on more important things like protecting our country.
GOP’s Benghazi Transparency Failures
House Republican Leadership Withheld Full Cost of Benghazi Investigations from the Public
House Republican leaders ruled an amendment that would have exposed the full cost burden of Benghazi investigations on DoD, “out of order.”
Trey Gowdy Limited Democrats’ Access to Transcripts
GOP members of the Benghazi Committee issued new rules prohibiting Democratic members and staff from receiving their own physical and digital copies of witness interview transcripts.
Trey Gowdy’s new rules may violate House procedures requiring “equitable treatment” for both sides regarding “the accessibility of committee records.”
Trey Gowdy Began Withholding Documents Even Before Questionable New Rule
Rep. Cummings: “Republicans are so desperate to keep us from sharing these facts with the public, they denied Democrats any access to some of these witness transcripts for weeks.”
Trey Gowdy Refused to Publicly Release Documents
Trey Gowdy refused to release emails handed over to the Select Committee.
Trey Gowdy Fought to Keep Testimony Behind Closed Doors
Trey Gowdy initially argued there was no alternative to a private interview with Hillary Clinton to discuss her emails.
Benghazi Committee Republicans rejected Cheryl Mills’ request for public testimony.
Trey Gowdy Rejected Every Request to Make Transcripts Public
Rep. Cummings called on Trey Gowdy to release full transcripts of all witness interviews and depositions conducted by the Benghazi Committee.
Trey Gowdy refused to release the Sidney Blumenthal deposition transcript despite calls from committee members.
Trey Gowdy reneged on plans to hold a vote on releasing the Blumenthal transcript despite prior assertions that a public business meeting would be held for the vote.
Benghazi Committee Republicans voted together to keep Blumenthal’s deposition transcript secret after Rep. Cummings forced a vote on the issue during Hillary Clinton’s public hearing.
Trey Gowdy refused to release the transcript of the Cheryl Mills interview despite calls from committee members.
Trey Gowdy Held Secret Witness Meetings, Excluding Democrats
As of January 2015, Benghazi Committee Republicans had held at least 5 secret witness interviews without a Democrat in attendance.