WASHINGTON (AP) – The House Benghazi Committee missed a self-imposed deadline to issue a report “before summer,” the latest setback for a probe that has gone on for more than two years and drawn scorn from Democrats who say its primary goal is to undermine Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid.
The panel’s chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., now says “the committee is working overtime to complete the investigation” and will “issue a report as soon as possible.” Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time of the deadly 2012 attacks, is expected to be nominated for president at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in five weeks.
A congressional report on the Sept. 11, 2012 attacks in Libya that killed four Americans, including U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens, is certain to have ramifications for Clinton’s White House bid.
Gowdy, who has been dogged by charges of partisanship since the inquiry began in May 2014, disputed Democrats’ contention that the Republican-led investigation is focused on Clinton, saying in a statement that the panel’s work encompasses a host of federal agencies, including the Defense and State departments, the CIA, the White House and the intelligence community.
The committee has interviewed 107 witnesses so far, including 81 who had never before been questioned by Congress, Gowdy said. Nine of the new witnesses interviewed were eyewitnesses to the September 2012 attacks.