Issa: Oversight Committee to Resume Benghazi Hearings Next Month

WASHINGTON- House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa today announced that the committee will resume hearings in May focusing on information turned over to the committee by administration whistleblowers on the Benghazi terrorist attacks. 

“Next month, the Oversight Committee will convene a hearing on the Benghazi terrorist attacks to examine evidence that Obama Administration officials have attempted to suppress information about errors and reckless misjudgments,” said Chairman Issa.  “The American people still don’t have the full truth about what happened both before and after the murders of four brave Americans. 

“Our hearing will examine new facts about what happened and significant problems with the administration’s own review of Benghazi failures. While President Obama and his administration may be inclined to give free passes to senior officials who bungled their responsibilities, this committee will expose what they did and hold them accountable to the public. Getting the full story is critical to ensuring that this does not happen again.”

A date for the next hearing will be announced soon. Citing concerns about possible retaliation whistleblowers could face at the hands of administration officials, Chairman Issa has declined to publicly name those who have been in contact with the committee.

On October 10, 2012, the Oversight Committee held the first hearing into the Benghazi terrorist attacks that exposed administration officials denying security requests from diplomats serving in Libya as well as pre-attack State Department knowledge of terrorist operations in Benghazi.  The hearing was credited with forcing the State Department to acknowledge that there was never a protest as U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice had asserted.

Issa’s announcement follows yesterday’s release of an interim joint committee report released by five investigating House committees.