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Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks Oct. 13 during the Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas.(Photo: John Locher, AP)
WASHINGTON — The Republican chairman of the congressional panel probing the Benghazi tragedy is telling his GOP colleagues to "shut up" about the committee's work because most of them know very little about what the panel is doing.
Speaking Sunday on CBS' Face The Nation, South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy dismissed recent statements by two Republican lawmakers — including Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California — implying that at least part of the panel's mission was to embarrass Democrat Hillary Clinton, who was secretary of State during the Benghazi attacks and is now running for president.
"I get that there is a presidential campaign going on," Gowdy said on the show. "I have told my own Republican colleagues and friends to shut up talking about things you don't know anything about and unless you're on the committee, you have no idea what we've done, why we've done it, and what new facts we have found."
Clinton is scheduled to testify before the committee Thursday.
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Gowdy, a former federal prosecutor, said he wants to find out more about what role she may have played in deciding whether to draw down security at the U.S. embassy compound in Benghazi shortly before an attack on the Libyan facility killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens.
But his work has been complicated by statements from McCarthy, who told Sean Hannity on Fox News Sept. 29 that "we put together a Benghazi special committee (and) what are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping."
Last Wednesday, Rep. Richard Hanna, R-N.Y., told a local radio program that "a big part" of the Benghazi panel was designed to go after Clinton.
"After what Kevin McCarthy said, it's difficult to accept at least a part of it was not," Hanna told a Utica radio station. "I think that's the way Washington works," Hanna said. "But you'd like to expect more from a committee that's spent millions of dollars and tons of time.''
In addition, a former investigator for the Benghazi committee recently accused the panel of conducting a politically motivated probe targeting Clinton. Maj. Bradley Podliska, an intelligence officer in the Air Force Reserve, was fired from the committee in June.
"These are three people who don't have any idea what they're talking about," Gowdy said Sunday.
South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy dismissed recent statements by two Republican lawmakers — including Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California — implying that at least part of the Benghazi panel’s mission was to embarrass Democrat Hillary Clinton.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Saul Loeb, AFP/Getty Images)
He said McCarthy and Hanna have never asked for an update from the committee, which was created 17 months ago. As for Podliska, Gowdy said he has "no idea" what the panel's been doing for the past four months.
But Gowdy's Democratic counterpart on the panel, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, said the statements indicate how the committee's work has veered away from the initial intent to uncover what happened and prevent a future attack.
"It's a sad day for all of us because we made a commitment to the families," Cummings told Face The Nation. "The families came in with tears in their eyes literally and said please don't make this a political football. That's exactly what's happened."
Clinton was secretary of State in 2012 when terrorists attacked U.S. facilities in Benghazi, killing four people, including Stevens. Multiple congressional investigations and an independent investigation of the State Department have led to improved diplomatic security at U.S. outposts around the world and have repositioned military resources to respond to future attacks.
They have not, however, unearthed evidence supporting Republicans' assertions that administration officials deliberately mischaracterized the attacks as a spontaneous response to an anti-Muslim video instead of an act of terrorism.
FACTCHECK
Benghazi Timeline
House Republicans created the special Benghazi committee in May 2014 to continue the probe.
The investigation eventually revealed Clinton's use of a private email server while at the State Department, raising questions about her motives, whether she had properly preserved official emails, and whether classified information had been compromised.
Clinton said on CNN's State of the Union Sunday she wasn't involved in the decision to draw down security at the compound and that none of the emails she received or sent on her private server was marked classified at the time.
As for her upcoming appearance Thursday, the Democratic frontrunner for the White House said she's not sure what to expect.
But "I think it's pretty clear that whatever they might have thought they were doing, they ended up becoming a partisan arm of the Republican National Committee with an overwhelming focus on — as they admitted — driving down my poll numbers," she said.
Contributing Mary Troyan
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