Why We’re Still Fighting Over Sept. 11

In Washington, there’s nothing more contentious than the blame game. This week, the politics are swirling around the fallout of two Sept. 11 attacks—the 2001 al Qaeda plot, and the 2012 attack on the U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and GOP front-runner Donald Trump are sparring over whether President George W. Bush “kept the nation safe.” Trump, wading into deeply unsettled waters, blasted the 43rd president repeatedly for failing to prevent the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which killed 2,977.

The barbs are meant to tarnish the family name that continues to frustrate the younger Bush’s presidential aspirations, while appealing to isolationist tendencies within the GOP. For Jeb Bush, the defense is both personal—he repeatedly notes he loves his brother—but also political, as he is using Trump’s cavalier statements on foreign policy to cast him in a new web video as a lightweight. Bush is also launching a list-building effort to defend his brother, and, in related family news, has launched a fundraising contest to meet his parents at a donor summit that both former presidents Bush will attend next weekend.

Many Republican operatives and politicians, who still broadly like George W. Bush, have joined in the defense, saying blame for the attack lies solely with al Qaeda, rejecting any notion he bears responsibility. Meanwhile, they have defended the Benghazi inquiry as raising “legitimate” questions about Hillary Clinton‘s tenure. The attack just months before the 2012 election killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, and has been a political lightning rod ever since.

Then-presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s bungled response set the tone less than 24 hours after the attack, capped by a debate fight over whether President Obama had called it an act of terrorism. Theories that the U.S. could have, and failed, to do more to save those killed during the course of the attack have been investigated and rejected.

Still, Clinton is set to appear before the House Benghazi Committee on Thursday, as Republicans look to continue an investigation that has now dragged on longer than the Watergate hearings and the commission that investigated the 9/11 attacks. The inquiry has long since shifted from how the attacks were described to the American people, to an examination of Clinton’s use of private email. Republican lawmakers have admitted a partisan motivation, while Clinton’s army of Democratic allies are preparing an elaborate defense. Clinton’s campaign released a web video Monday touting her record in office.

Here are your must-reads:

Must Reads

Boehner Faces Treacherous Path to the Exits
He’s supposed to leave Congress in two weeks, but amid the chaos, even that’s in doubt [Politico]

The Inside Story of Donald Trump’s Connections to a Big-Money Super PAC
Turmp’s ‘no big money’ claims may be a stretch [Washington Post]

Ted Cruz Is Wooing Voters Who Favored Rival Rand Paul’s Father, And It May Be Working
More troubles for Paul [LA Times]

Another Race Is On: For Ballot Signatures
Organizational test poses challenge for candidate [Wall Street Journal]

Sound Off

“The question on Benghazi, which is — hopefully we’ll now finally get the truth to is was that – was the place secure? They had a responsibility.”— Jeb Bush defending the House inquiry on CNN’s “State of the Union”

“I believe that if I were running things, I doubt that those people would have been in the country.”— Donald Trump on Fox News Sunday suggesting he would have kept the 9/11 perpetrators out of the U.S.

Bits and Bites

Democrats Eye More National Events as Anger Grows Over Debate Schedule [TIME]

Bernie Sanders Uses Smaller Crowds to Push Back Against ‘Radical’ Label [New York Times]

The U.S. Prepares Iranian Sanctions Relief After Landmark Nuclear Deal [TIME]

Sanders to ‘SNL’: ‘I Have an Ample Supply of Underwear’ [Des Moines Register]

Post-Debate, Hillary Clinton Remains Tops [CNN]