Graham not backing down on Obama nominee threat

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday he planned to continue to hold up President Obama’s nominees in the Senate until he gets more answers about last year’s deadly strike on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.

“I’ve been trying for a year to get these interviews without holds,” Graham said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I don’t want to hold anybody. … Congress has an independent duty to find out what happened in Benghazi.”

{mosads}Republican lawmakers have pointed to a “60 Minutes” segment about the attack in which they said there was evidence the government was hiding the truth about what happened.

The segment featured Morgan Jones, who claimed to have been at the U.S. compound the night of the terrorist attack. However, Jones’s account has crumbled, and “60 Minutes” has since retracted its story.

Graham said that revelation wouldn’t cause him to rethink his strategy in seeking answers about the attack. He argued that placing holds on nominees is one method of “oversight” that Congress has at its disposal.

“Oversight is important,” he said. “I’m trying to perform oversight; I’m not trying to prosecute a crime.”