The House Select Committee on Benghazi has never been about Hillary Clinton, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland said Tuesday, and had John Kerry been secretary of state when the attacks occurred, the committee would be looking at him instead.
"It is unfortunate that at the time, our mission was attacked and four Americans died trying to defend our country and represent our country in a foreign land," the Georgia Republican, who is on the committee, told
CNN's "New Day" host Chris Cuomo.
"It was a mission facility, which is overseen by the State Department. It is not our fault that she was secretary of state."
But as for the committee's purpose being to investigate her, "it's never been about Hillary," the congressman said. "It's always been [about] finding the facts and following the facts to the truth. And that is what Chairman [Trey] Gowdy and our committee has constantly tried to do."
Thousands of emails that were just received from the account of Ambassador Chris Stevens, one of the four Americans killed in the Libyan attack on Sept. 11, 2012, are vital to the investigation as it moves forward, Westmoreland said.
"If you were investigating something, wouldn't you want to know the emails of the guy that was there that was murdered and what he had asked for as far as help from the people he worked for?" said the lawmaker, noting he has not yet read the emails.
The State Department has seen Clinton's emails, which Westmoreland compared to being like "the rooster in the hen house," and he does not think the American people have confidence in the agency's findings.
Also on the show, Westmoreland held back comments over whether a Republican Party meeting being held at 7 p.m. Tuesday was to discuss the possibility that Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan will throw his hat in for outgoing House Speaker John Boehner's seat, as many party members are pushing him to do.
But he said he would support Ryan, as "we've got to do something to bring everybody together" and he believes the Wisconsin lawmaker is that person, as the the majority of the conference supports him.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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