NYT Editorial Board Calls On Republicans To Shut Down “Laughable” Benghazi Committee

NYT Editorial Board: “Shut Down The Benghazi Committee.” On October 7, The New York Times' editorial board called on House Republicans to dissolve the House Select Committee on Benghazi, calling it a “charade” that “has accomplished nothing” while “cost[ing] taxpayers $4.6 million.” The editors acknowledged that the GOP “may be disinclined to disband” the investigation, so they suggested that the “laughable crusade” at least be renamed “the Inquisition of Hillary Rodham Clinton.” The editorial argued that the committee has lost “any semblance of credibility” and “become an insult to the memory of four slain Americans”:

House Republicans may be disinclined to disband the Select Committee on Benghazi with the presidential race heating up. But at the very least they should rename their laughable crusade, which has cost taxpayers $4.6 million, “the Inquisition of Hillary Rodham Clinton.”

Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, a leading candidate to become the next speaker of the House, acknowledged last week that was the point of burrowing into the details of the 2012 attacks on government facilities in eastern Libya that killed the American ambassador and three colleagues.

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Lawmakers have long abused their investigative authority for political purposes. But the effort to find Mrs. Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time of the Libya attacks, was personally responsible for the deaths has lost any semblance of credibility. It's become an insult to the memory of four slain Americans.

The deaths of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and his colleagues have been exhaustively investigated by several other congressional committees and an independent panel of experts commissioned by the Department of State. The reviews found systemic failings at the State Department. But they found no evidence that Mrs. Clinton was directly responsible for the security lapses, which, of course, is the goal of the Republicans who want to derail her presidential bid. The possibility that all those investigators have somehow missed a crucial, damning piece of evidence seems negligible.

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Mrs. Clinton is scheduled to testify before the committee on Oct. 22. The hearing will give Republicans another chance to attack the credibility and trustworthiness of the leading Democratic presidential candidate. It will do nothing to make American embassies abroad safer or help the relatives of the four killed in Libya.

The hearing should be the last salvo for a committee that has accomplished nothing. If the Republicans insist on keeping the process alive, the Democrats should stop participating in this charade. [The New York Times, 10/7/15]

MSNBC's Morning Joe Hosted Benghazi Committee Chair Trey Gowdy But Said Nothing About The Editorial

Morning Joe Ignored New York Times Editorial During Interview With Committee Chair . Neither co-host of MSNBC's Morning Joe mentioned the damning Times editorial during the October 7 broadcast despite a guest appearance by committee Chair Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC). Although Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski brought up the controversy surrounding Rep. Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) recent acknowledgement of the Benghazi committee's political motivation, they said nothing about the Times' editorial, and neither did Gowdy. This, despite the fact that both Gowdy and Scarborough cited reporting by The New York Times in an attempt to justify the committee's existence. [MSNBC, Morning Joe, 10/7/15]

Fox & Friends Also Ignored Times' Call To Shut Down Committee

Fox & Friends Said Nothing About The Times Editorial. The hosts of Fox News' Fox & Friends made no mention of the Times' editorial on the October 7 edition of the show, which covered Clinton's email use and presidential primary polling numbers.

CNN Mentioned NYT Editorial While Discussing Whether Benghazi Committee Has Acted Ethically

CNN's New Day: Host Chris Cuomo Asks Rep. Alan Grayson About Times Editorial. On the October 7 edition of CNN's New Day, co-host Chris Cuomo brought up The New York Times' editorial and mentioned Rep. McCarthy's comments about the committee while introducing his guest, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), who has filed an ethics complaint against McCarthy and Committee Chair Gowdy:

CHRIS CUOMO (HOST): [Democrats] hear that this is fodder for the campaign trail because it was an unfair investigation. The man making that case and saying it's an ethical violation is Democratic Congressman Allen Grayson. He's filing an ethics complaint against McCarthy, as well as the chair of the Benghazi panel, Trey Gowdy, aka Harold. This, as a NYT editorial calls for the Benghazi committee to shut down. Congressman Grayson joins us this morning.

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Let's take a pull quote out of your letter here that you're sending on to the Ethics Committee asking for an investigation. “Representative Kevin McCarthy and Trey Gowdy have violated federal law and House rules by using funds appropriated to the Select Committee on Benghazi to oppose the presidential candidacy of Hillary Clinton. This is a clear and unequivocal misuse of appropriated funds for political purposes.” Let's say that The Honorable David Skaggs agrees -- in the Office of Congressional Ethics -- what would happen next?

REP. ALAN GRAYSON: Well, there would be a full investigation. For instance, we would determine whether internal emails corroborated what McCarthy said, which is that this is a politically-motivated undertaking, and then there would be some degree of punishment. I'm sure that, for one thing, they would recommend exactly what The New York Times recommended, which is that this inquisition be shut down. But beyond that, I think there would be punishment for the specific members. [CNN, New Day, 10/7/15, 10/7/15]