House minority leader Pelosi names five Democrats to Benghazi panel
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Version 0 of 1. US House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday named the five members of her party who will serve on a special panel investigating the 2012 attack on a US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. After weeks of deliberating over whether to participate in a Republican-led panel that Democrats predict will be partisan, Pelosi announced the members who will round out the committee. House Speaker John Boehner already has appointed the seven Republican members. Pelosi said the following Democratic representatives will be members of the panel: Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the senior Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee; Adam Smith of Washington, the senior Democrat on House Armed Services; Adam Schiff, a member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Linda Sanchez of California, a Ways and Means Committee member; and Tammy Duckworth, of Illinois, who serves on the Armed Services Committee and is an Iraq war veteran. Earlier on Wednesday, a senior Democratic aide said negotiations between Pelosi and Boehner on the operation of the special congressional panel was still under discussion. Those discussions are thought to center on whether Democratic members of the panel will be able to call witnesses to testify and interview witnesses prior to hearings. The attacks led to the deaths of four Americans, including US Ambassador Christopher Stevens. House Republicans have launched multiple investigations into the Obama administration's handling of embassy security in the run-up to the attack and the steps it took in the aftermath. Democrats have accused Republicans of creating the panel for political purposes, including keeping the spotlight on Hillary Clinton, who was Obama's secretary of state at the time of the Benghazi violence. Clinton, a Democrat, is weighing a 2016 run for president. Boehner has insisted that the special committee will conduct a "serious, fact-based inquiry." The special committee will be chaired by Republican congressman Trey Gowdy of South Carolina. |