--- title: Benghazi: House of Representatives to Launch Probe description: The House has voted to establish a select committee to investigate the 2012 terror attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi canonical: https://time.com/93671/house-select-committee-benghazi/ author: Michelle Arrouas article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-09T09:15:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:44:55.490Z article:section: Politics og:title: Benghazi: House of Representatives to Launch Probe og:description: The House has voted to establish a select committee to investigate the 2012 terror attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi og:url: https://time.com/93671/house-select-committee-benghazi/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c975bc24fdc1246/69868e981eebf7c1d0370cf5/488582475.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3885 og:image:height: 2185 og:image:alt: Rep. Trey Gowdy og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Benghazi: House of Representatives to Launch Probe twitter:description: The House has voted to establish a select committee to investigate the 2012 terror attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c975bc24fdc1246/69868e981eebf7c1d0370cf5/488582475.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # House Votes to Establish Select Committee on Benghazi > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### 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. by [Michelle Arrouas](https://time.com/author/michelle-arrouas/) ## Michelle Arrouas May 9, 2014 9:15 AM UTC  Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., chair of the newly formed select committee to investigate the State Department's handling of the 2012 attack in Benghazi, speaks on his phone as he walks to the Rayburn House Office Building on Wednesday, May 7, 2014. Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., chair of the newly formed select committee to investigate the State Department's handling of the 2012 attack in Benghazi, speaks on his phone as he walks to the Rayburn House Office Building on Wednesday, May 7, 2014. Bill Clark—CQ-Roll Call, Inc. by [Michelle Arrouas](https://time.com/author/michelle-arrouas/) ## Michelle Arrouas May 9, 2014 9:15 AM UTC The House of Representatives voted on Thursday to establish a [select committee](http://www.speaker.gov/press-release/boehner-introduces-resolution-create-select-committee-benghazi) to investigate the 2012 Benghazi attack. The Republican-led House voted 232-186 in favor, nearly along party lines. Speaker John Boehner said that the committee will be led by South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy. The six other Republican members will be announced soon. The Democrats, who hold five seats, are still deciding whether to boycott the committee over concerns that it is partisan, a fear that John Boehner dismmissed. “This doesn’t need to be, shouldn’t be, and will not be a partisan process,” he [said](http://www.speaker.gov/video/boehner-makes-case-benghazi-select-committee) in a statement. The select committee will investigate the attacks on the American embassy in Benghazi, Libya, on September 12, 2012\. Around 60 individuals stormed the embassy and killed four persons, including the ambassador Christopher Stevens. At first there were [reports](http://time.com/89144/a-benghazi-scandal-thats-already-been-revealed-the-cia-believed-a-media-mistake/) that the assault on the embassy was spontaneous, sparked by protests over an anti-Muslim film produced in the U.S. Later reports showed that the assault was an organized terrorist attack. The Republicans are accusing the Obama administration of giving U.N. ambassador Susan E. Rice politicized talking points with which to explain the event, in a bid to protect the President’s national security record ahead of the 2012 presidential election. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/93671/house-select-committee-benghazi/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/93671/house-select-committee-benghazi/"},"headline":"House Votes to Establish Select Committee on Benghazi","datePublished":"2014-05-09T09:15:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:44:55.490Z","description":"House GOP approval means Republican Rep. 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