Republican lawmaker Frank Wolf told Fox News on Tuesday morning that the only way the American public will ever learn the truth behind the Sept. 11, 2012, fatal attacks in Benghazi, Libya, is if Congress appoints a special committee to investigate.
A special committee has the power to subpoena witnesses, he said.
“I think there is a cover-up,” he said, on Fox News. “It is clear there is a cover-up.”
Six months have passed since the terrorist attack in Libya that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, and questions persist. In a recent letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, Mr. Wolf expressed outrage: “Six months later, none of the terrorists involved in the attack are in U.S. or foreign detention. The FBI has only had access to a single suspect for a mere three hours, after waiting for months. The FBI is being denied access to another person of interest in Egypt. Six months later, none of the survivors have been identified or questioned by Congress about the attack or credited for their heroism. We don’t know their names, conditions or stories.”
And six months later, he continued, in his letter, “not a single American official has been held accountable or lost their job over the inadequate consulate security, intelligence failures or the administration’s abysmal response during the terrorist attack.”
Lawmakers haven’t had access to witnesses or suspects, either, he said, on Fox News.
SPECIAL COVERAGE: Benghazi Attack Under Microscope
If Congress doesn’t agree to appoint a special committee, it would have failed the American people, he said.
“There’s no other way,” Mr. Wolf said, adding that the White House has given the Federal Bureau of Investigations an impossible job of investigating the attack. “Can you imagine the FBI going up to a door [in Benghazi], knocking and saying, we’re going to take you away? … The only way to [get answers] is to get a select committee that can subpoena [witnesses],” he said.
Mr. Wolf also vowed not to let the matter slide.
“We lost four American citizens,” he said, on Fox News. “That was a battlefield. … I will not stop pushing for this. But the only way you’re going to be able to do it [investigate and find truth] is off subpoena power.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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