Benghazi Report Faults Slow Response To Attack
House Republicans have faulted the Obama administration and Hillary Clinton for lax security and a slow response to the 2012 attack on a US mission in Libya that left four Americans dead.
The House Benghazi Committee released its long-awaited 800-page report on Tuesday, capping a two-year, $7m investigation that Democrats have derided as a political vendetta.
The report delivered no new substantial evidence of Mrs Clinton's culpability with regard to the attack, but accused her and her staff of a "shameful" lack of response to congressional investigators looking into the tragedy.
The findings did criticise the military, CIA and Obama administration officials for their response and subsequent explanation to the American people.
Panel chairman Trey Gowdy said the investigation revealed a disconnect between the unfolding violence on the ground in Benghazi and the perception among top administration officials that "the fighting had subsided".
The report notes that "despite President Obama and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta's clear orders to deploy military assets, nothing was sent to Benghazi, and nothing was en route to Libya at the time the last two Americans were killed almost eight hours after the attacks began".
The report documents that the US was slow to send help to the Americans "because of an obsession with hurting the Libyans' feelings", Mr Gowdy told a news conference.
He said the panel also uncovered "new information on what happened in Benghazi", including details contained in emails from then-Secretary Clinton that were handed over to the committee.
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Mrs Clinton's campaign dismissed the report as a partisan effort to derail her bid for the White House.
"After more than two years and more than $7 million in taxpayer funds, the committee report has not found anything to contradict the conclusions of the multiple, earlier investigations," Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said in a statement.
Committee Democrats released their own findings on Monday, saying that while the State Department's security measures in Benghazi on the night of 11 September 2012 were "woefully inadequate", Mrs Clinton never personally turned down a request for additional security.
In 2015, Patricia Smith, whose son Sean Smith was one of those killed in the attack, told Sky News that Mrs Clinton is "a boldfaced liar" .
Along with Mr Smith, US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and former Navy Seals, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, were killed in the attack.
The deadly assault became immediate political fodder, given the timing in the weeks before President Obama's re-election.
Particularly, there has been incessant finger-pointing over whether the White House initially tried to portray the assault as a protest over an anti-Muslim video, rather than a calculated terrorist attack.
According to the committee's report, the video was a featured talking point in a White House meeting on the night of the attack.
Mr Gowdy encouraged the American public to "read this report for themselves ... and reach their own conclusions".
