Issa: Being kicked out of Benghazi deposition ‘wasn’t a big thing’

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said it “wasn’t a big thing” when he was asked to leave former Hillary Clinton adviser Sidney Blumenthal’s deposition before the House Select Committee on Benghazi last month.

Issa was seen exchanging words with Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), the committee’s chairman, after he left the hearing. He was then seen throwing an empty soda can into a nearby trash can.

NBC News producer Frank Thorp posted a video of part of the Gowdy-Issa exchange.

{mosads}Issa told C-SPAN on Wednesday that he had asked Gowdy about coming to the hearing about 45 minutes before he arrived.

Once he entered the room, he said, a staff member of the panel’s Democrats objected to his being there.

“At that point, I left. It wasn’t a big thing,” said Issa, who added that he held no ill will toward Gowdy. He said Gowdy apologized for not getting back to him as they talked outside the hearing.

“Trey and I are good friends,” said Issa, who added that he told the chairman, “This isn’t a big deal.”

Issa said he had wanted to attend the deposition because he was going on a news show and wanted to be better informed. “I thought it would be worth being there,” he said.

He also said that the video showing him walking away from the hearing distorts what happened.

“You can see a video and completely misunderstand it,” he told C-SPAN. “I finished my diet coke and I threw it in a trash can.

“The fact is, I wasn’t upset. This wasn’t an upsetting thing. It’s something where there was a misunderstanding,” he said.  

Issa did say he was disappointed that Democrats didn’t allow him to attend the meeting and that the media focused more on his episode than the deposition.

“Is it frustrating that Democrats didn’t want me in a corner listening? Sure,” Issa said.