WASHINGTON — After hours of testimony Wednesday from witnesses to last year’s lethal terrorist attacks in Benghazi, lawmakers on Capitol Hill called on more “whistle-blowers” to come forward, saying there is much more to learn.
“This hearing is now over, but this investigation is not,” Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, told reporters in the hallway after the hearing.
Issa, a Republican from California, said his message to potential “whistle-blowers” who “have been afraid to come forward” is that “today should demonstrate that in fact it is the right time to come forward.”
“Tell us your story, and we’ll make sure it gets told,” he said in the Rayburn House Office Building.
The Benghazi attacks of Sept. 11, 2012 left Chris Stevens, the U.S. Ambassador to Libya, among its dead. On Wednesday, three witnesses — including the country’s top diplomat in Libya after Stevens’ death — appeared before the Oversight Committee’s “Benghazi: Exposing Failure and Recognizing Courage” hearing.
The most damning revelations for the Obama administration came from Gregory Hicks, a foreign service officer and former Deputy Chief of Mission/Chargé d’Affairs in Libya.
Hicks testified that State Department lawyers pressured him not to cooperate with congressional investigators and that Cheryl
Mills, a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, became upset with him over his cooperation.
Reacting to the testimony, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan accused Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her staff of a cover up.
Hicks revealed that U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice — who falsely claimed on Sunday news programs that the events were not the result an organized terrorist attack — never spoke to him before giving the interviews, even though he was the most senior diplomat in Libya. Hicks admitted he was “stunned” at her assertions.
“My jaw dropped,” he said. “I was embarrassed.”
Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat and ranking member on the committee, blasted Republicans after the hearing, saying the “unsubstantiated Republican allegations about Benghazi disintegrated one by one.”
“There was no evidence of a conspiracy to withhold military assets for political reasons, no evidence of a cover up, no evidence that the administration deliberately misled anyone, no evidence that anyone was threatened for coming forward to testify,” he said.
Cummings acknowledged more hearings are likely needed, however.
“We’ve got to now do everything in our power to get to the bottom of this,” he said. “We probably still need to hear from [U.S. Ambassador Thomas] Pickering, and [retired Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Michael] Mullen and others, so that we can get a complete picture and we can then base our decisions on reform on good information,” Cummings said.
After the hearing, Issa said, “numerous questions are still unanswered.”
“Who denied the U.S. mission in Benghazi the increased security it requested months before the terror attacks?” he asked. “Who gave the order for special operations forces to stand down, preventing them from helping their compatriots under attack? What was the actual military capability and preparedness to respond to the mission’s requests for help?”
