--- title: Hillary Clinton Benghazi: GOP Leader Says Committee Hurt Her description: Kevin McCarthy, a leading candidate to be Speaker of the House, credited the House Benghazi Committee with lowering Clinton's poll numbers. canonical: https://time.com/4055534/kevin-mccarthy-hillary-clinton-benghazi/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-30T14:52:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-14T01:20:57.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: GOP Leader Says Benghazi Committee Hurt Hillary Clinton og:description: Democrats have pounced on the statement by a leading candidate for Speaker. og:url: https://time.com/4055534/kevin-mccarthy-hillary-clinton-benghazi/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5cb09455a4ca4a0b/6988662d0a4a2266609c653f/kevin-mcarthy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: House Republican Leaders Speak To Media After Republican Conference Meeting og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: GOP Leader Says Benghazi Committee Hurt Hillary Clinton twitter:description: Democrats have pounced on the statement by a leading candidate for Speaker. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5cb09455a4ca4a0b/6988662d0a4a2266609c653f/kevin-mcarthy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Republican Leader Says Benghazi Committee Hurt Hillary Clinton > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Hillary Clinton's Top 10 Political Moments [Watch (HLS stream): Hillary Clinton's Top 10 Political Moments](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/L3I0gpwt.m3u8) (1:49)  _Published 2015-04-09. Watch the top 10 moments from Hillary Clinton's career in politics._ by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Updated: Dec 14, 2023 1:20 AM UTCPublished: Sep 30, 2015 2:52 PM UTC  Kevin McCarthy leaves a meeting of the House Republican conference June 18, 2014 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. Kevin McCarthy leaves a meeting of the House Republican conference June 18, 2014 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. Win McNamee—Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Updated: Dec 14, 2023 1:20 AM UTCPublished: Sep 30, 2015 2:52 PM UTC Republicans have handed Hillary Clinton’s embattled campaign a gift after months of damage over the former Secretary of State’s use of a private email server. Kevin McCarthy, the House majority leader and a leading candidate to replace John Boehner as Speaker, credited the House Benghazi Committee with lowering Clinton’s poll numbers, a gaffe that undermines Republicans’ claim that the committee is a nonpartisan investigation. “Everybody though Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right?” McCarthy said in an interview with Fox News. “But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she’s untrustable. But no one would have known any of that had happened, had we not fought.” McCarthy’s comments will likely give Clinton a key talking point as she prepares to face questioning from the Benghazi Committee on October 22 over her tenure as Secretary of State. The statement reinforces statements that Clinton’s surrogates have made for months: that the Benghazi Committee is a politically motivated tool of the GOP designed to damage Clinton’s campaign. “This is a damning display of honesty by the possible next Speaker of the House,” said Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon. “Kevin McCarthy just confessed that the committee set up to look into the deaths of four brave Americans at Benghazi is a taxpayer-funded sham. This confirms Americans’ worst suspicions about what goes on in Washington.” Clinton’s allies were already jumping on statement, with the super PACs affiliated with the campaign broadcasting the message. A spokesman for Correct the Record, a pro-Clinton super PAC, called McCarthy’s comments “disgraceful” in a statement sent to reporters. Rep. Trey Gowdy, who chairs the Benghazi Committee and Speaker Boehner have long said the committee was formed to investigate the attack at Benghazi where ambassador Chris Stevens was killed. The committee has cost $4.5 million and has not held a hearing since January. The committee has been a gadfly to the Clinton campaign since long before she started her campaign, though other conservative groups like Judicial Watch have also played a large role in making damaging revelations. Rep. Elijah Cummings, Democrat and ranking member of the committee joined the chorus of voices attacking the GOP. “It is shameful that Republicans have used this tragedy and the deaths of our fellow Americans for political gain,” he said. **Correction:** The original version of this story incorrectly quoted Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon. He said of Kevin McCarthy’s comments about a House committee lowering Clinton’s poll numbers, “This is a damning display of honesty by the possible next Speaker of the House.” ## Transcript You know, I'm not sittin' here some little woman standing here by my man like Tammy Wynette. I'm sittin' here because I love him, and I respect him. Now is our chance to beat the historical odds, and give the American people the health security they need. If there is one message that echoes forth from this. Let it be that human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights once and for all. The great story here for anybody willing to find it and write about it and explain it is this vast right- wing conspiracy that has been conspiring. Against my husband since the day he announced for president. I would be happy to, when you give me the signed letters. Well, right here. Right here. When you give me. Right here. Sign it right now. We'll shake. We'll shake on this, Ray. No, no, I want your signature, cause I think that everybody wants to see you signing something that you said you were for. You know, I have so many opportunities from this country. I just don't wanna see us fall backwards. Although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it. The battle to stop Al Qaeda and its affiliates. Does not end with one death. What difference, at this point, does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, Senator. I took the unprecedented step of asking that the state department make all my work- related emails, [ MUSIC ] Public for everyone to see. 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