Boehner: Benghazi investigation not about Clinton 2016 bid

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Sunday that Republican leaders are not attempting to hurt Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential chances by continuing to investigate the 2012 Benghazi attacks.

{mosads}“The idea here is to get the American people the facts about what happened,” Boehner said during an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”

“Why wasn’t the security for our embassy in Libya given to our ambassador after repeated requests the night of the event,” Boehner continued. “Why didn’t we attempt to rescue the people that were there? Why were the people there told not to get involved?

“And then, as importantly, when did the president know this and why for some two weeks did he describe it differently than what it really was?” he added

Democrats have accused Republicans of trying to score political points by continuing to focus on the 2012 Benghazi attacks, which resulted in the deaths of four U.S. citizens, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.

Clinton, who is widely seen as the likely frontrunner for the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, was still serving as secretary of State at the time of the Benghazi attack.

Boehner said Sunday that there are still questions that need to be answered about the Obama administration’s handling of the 2012 attacks, even as he denied the investigations were an attempt to harm Clinton’s presumed presidential campaign.

“There are a lot of unanswered questions,” he said. “[Rep.] Trey Gowdy [R-S.C.], the chairman of the Benghazi Committee, has been told by me I don’t need a big show here. What we need are facts. The American people deserve the truth about what happened and that’s all we’re interested in.”

Boehner said Clinton may be called to testify before Congress about Benghazi this year even if she runs for president.

“She was never interviewed by the Accountability Review Board shortly after the event,” he said. “I think that we just need to know what the facts were and if she’s got facts that she can supply, we need to know them.”

Boehner said the final decision about whether Clinton will be called to testify is “up to Chairman Gowdy. “If he believes that necessary to get to the truth, so be it,” Boehner said.