Republicans Insist White House Email Justifies Benghazi Probe

After the release this week of an email from the White House to former U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, House Republicans launched another investigation into the incident on Sept. 11, 2012, in Benghazi, Libya.

U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens was among four Americans killed in attacks on the U.S. compound in Benghazi. The attacks were initially blamed on protests that span out of control, but were later found to have been a planned terrorist attack.

The Obama administration’s reaction to the incident has come under intense scrutiny from Republican lawmakers, who have charged the White House with attempting to mislead the public over the nature of the attacks. The Sept. 14, 2012 e-mail to Rice, which emerged this week, has been cited as a “smoking gun” in the alleged cover-up. The White House has maintained it relied on talking points prepared by the CIA to keep the public informed in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, and denied any attempt to mislead.

Republicans took to the Sunday cable news shows to call for more attention to be focused on the issue, but Democrats have dismissed a new congressional committee on Benghazi unveiled by House Speaker John Boehner this week as both a distraction and a waste of taxpayers’ money.