House Democrats release separate Benghazi report, defend Clinton

Democrats blamed inadequate security in Benghazi on decisions made by mid-level officials at the State Department and said that contrary to repeated claims by some Republicans and conservative commentators, neither Clinton nor anyone else intentionally delayed the military’s response or ordered a “stand-down”.

“Congress should not establish or use future investigative select committees or panels for political purposes including to impact elections or to raise campaign funds”, the report said.

Frustrated Democrats on the House special committee investigating the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack released separate findings today, pre-empting the long-awaited results expected to be announced by the committee’s Republicans as early as Tuesday.

The Democrats said that the “assessments and information” that the CIA and other intelligence agencies provided to US government officials “evolved” after the attacks but were not influenced by the upcoming 2012 presidential election or any other political factors.

Out of the 339 pages of the report, 44 were devoted to blaming House Republicans for conducting the investigation in the first place, saying that they “squandered millions of dollars in a partisan effort to attack a Presidential candidate”.

In a rush to exonerate Hillary Clinton in the deaths of a US ambassador and three other Americans in the terrorist attack in Benghazi on Sept 11, 2012, the Democrats on the House Select Committee on Benghazi issued Monday a 339-page minority report, grabbing headlines in advance of the majority’s report.

Aides to Gowdy and the majority staff did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

While the stories changed within the administration and regarding what officials told the American people, the report said that there were “no intentionally misleading public statements”. According to the committee, the State Department is restricting information and records regarding former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails and Accountability Review Board emails as well as emails and records from Cheryl Mills, Jake Sullivan and Susan Rice.

The report cited Clinton’s 2014 book in which she argued that “later investigation and reporting confirmed that the video had indeed been a factor”.

Petraeus said video of the attack makes it unclear if there were protesters mixed in with attackers. “If not, everyone can ignore their rehashed, partisan talking points defending their endorsed candidate for president”, Wolking said.

“As Chairman [Trey] Gowdy [of South Carolina] has said, this is not about one person”.

“For over two years they refused to participate in the Majority’s serious, fact-centered investigation”, he said. Although their report opens with a pledge that they are releasing their own document to honor the lives of Ambassador Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, you don’t have to read far to realize they have little intention of finding answers for these fallen men’s families.

The Democratic report offers a timeline of events from the night of the raid and concludes that “the Defense Department could not have done anything differently on the night of the attacks”.

In their report, Democrats repeatedly emphasize that the Republicans’ probe did not yield any new information, only adding more context to what already had been uncovered by the previous investigations, such as “poignant new details about how (the responders’) actions saved lives”.