Lewis: GOP member ‘inappropriate’ on Benghazi panel

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) on Monday called on a member of the select Benghazi panel to step down from his appointment.

Lewis said that fellow Georgian Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R), who also serves as deputy chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, had a conflict of interest. 

{mosads}”I am calling on Rep. Westmoreland to step down from the Select Committee on Benghazi immediately,” Lewis said in a statement. “The political position he holds and the partisan behavior he has exhibited make it clear that he has no business serving on this committee.”

Westmoreland spoke about the Benghazi panel at a Sunday meeting of the Coweta County, Ga., GOP, which some Democrats said demonstrated politicization of the issue.

“His participation on such a committee is as inappropriate as it is revealing,” Lewis said.

Westmoreland, for his part, said in a statement to The Hill upon his appointment to the Benghazi committee that he wouldn’t have a conflict of interest.

“This investigation is about getting the truth for the families who deserve answers. That’s my only focus,” Westmoreland said.