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26 Ways in which the Republicans on the Select Committee ignored House Rules, lied, cheated and shut out Democratic members of the committee.
A. Republicans admitted that their purpose in establishing the Select Committee
was to attack Secretary Clinton’s candidacy for President. 262
B. Republicans targeted Secretary Clinton from the beginning. 263
C. Republicans proceeded with no Select Committee rules. 264
D. Republicans proceeded with an unlimited timeline and budget. 265
E. Republicans refused to define the scope of their investigation or identify the
questions the Select Committee was trying to answer. 266
F. Republicans abandoned their own hearing plan to focus on Secretary Clinton. 267
G. Republicans excluded Democrats from interviews and concealed exculpatory
evidence. 268
H. Republicans selectively released Sidney Blumenthal’s emails after proclaiming
that “serious investigations” do not make selective releases. 271
I. Republicans subpoenaed Sidney Blumenthal to conduct political opposition
research that has nothing to do with the attacks in Benghazi. 273
J. Republicans blocked the release of Sidney Blumenthal’s deposition transcript
showing numerous questions about the Clinton Foundation. 276
K. Republicans leaked inaccurate information about Cheryl Mills’ interview,
forcing Democrats to release her transcript to correct the public record. 281
L. Republicans began withholding interview transcripts in violation of House rules
to retaliate against Democratic efforts to correct the public record. 282
M. Republicans inaccurately accused Secretary Clinton of compromising a covert
CIA source. 285
N. Republicans held an 11-hour hearing with Secretary Clinton that was widely
condemned even by conservative commentators. 286
O. Republicans inaccurately inflated their interview numbers to counter criticism of
their glacial pace. 288
P. Republicans inaccurately claimed the State Department had not provided a single
“scrap” of paper. 288
Q. Republicans inaccurately claimed that no other committee had ever received
Ambassador Stevens’ emails. 289
R. Republicans issued a unilateral subpoena to retaliate against the Department of
Defense for exposing the Select Committee’s abuses. 290
S. Republicans exploited the attacks in Benghazi to raise money for political
campaigns. 292
T. Republicans threatened to withhold $700 million in State Department funding
supposedly to speed up document production. 294
FINDINGS 261
U. Republicans ignored a letter from 33 current and former U.S. ambassadors
explaining how the State Department actually works. 295
V. Republicans abandoned the Select Committee’s final two hearings on improving
security. 297
W. Republicans took a costly and unnecessary congressional delegation to Italy and
Germany. 299
X. Republicans used taxpayer funds to conduct one of the longest and most partisan
congressional investigations in history. 300
Y. Republicans drafted their partisan final report in secret with no input whatsoever
from nearly half of the Select Committee’s members. 301
Z. Republicans forfeited any credibility by delaying their report until the eve of the political conventions.