White House: Benghazi report is political
WASHINGTON — The White House dismissed the findings of a two-year investigation into the deaths of four Americans in Libya in 2012, saying the probe by the House Benghazi committee was designed to undermine Democrat Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.
"Is the RNC going to disclose the in-kind contribution that they received from House Republicans today?" White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said, referring to the Republican National Committee. He called the investigation a "$7 million effort funded by taxpayers ... to tear down Secretary Clinton's poll numbers."
The 800-page report from the Republican-led House committee, released Monday, concluded that politics and bureaucracy delayed the response to a terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012.
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But Earnest said those findings contradict previous repeated internal and independent investigations — many of which were led by congressional Republicans — found that the administration's response to the crisis was not politically motivated.
"The variety of conspiracy theories that have been flowering on the Republican side of the aisle are politically motivated fantasies. And it's unfortunate that the death of four Americans would be subject to that kind of political fantasizing," Earnest said.
Earnest called those deaths a "tragedy," but said President Obama ordered the Defense Department to respond while the attack was happening.
"There were a number of personnel in Benghazi that were safely extracted by DOD assets hours after the attack. There were some U.S. citizens who were killed. That's the reason we're having this conversation," he said.